Death Note: The Unwritten - Volume 1
by Just a writer for fun
Summary: A recollection of untold events throughout the life of the detective of the century. Volume 1: From his first encounter with Quillsh Wammy to the first step of his legendary career. A/N: Please read, rate, review. Check out my profile for story updates.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

21st of October 1989, a Saturday. The season of fall. The streets of Winchester, England were sprinkled with warm hues of falling foliage, the scent of cinnamon and nature filling the air. Well, the scent of rot from leaves anyway. There was a cold chill in the wind advising everyone to prepare themselves for the colder season ahead. As a result, people walked around with the warmest item of clothing they kept in their closets. Others resorted to shopping for the newest model of clothing they can find.

It was around five in the afternoon when an old man got back from London to his cherished orphanage, The Wammy's House. There was nothing else in the world like it but if he only had the funds, he would have loved to establish a foundation of building similar orphanages all over the world with the same goal as his own: to provide a shelter for homeless gifted children. The man in his early fifties stepped out of a taxi cab in front of his orphanage's steel gate. He started opening it when a young woman, barely in her twenties, approached him, a briefcase held by one of her hands. Well-rounded and fair, she appeared to be tired as if lacking sleep for someone her age.

"Good afternoon," she began.

The man nodded cheerfully. "Good afternoon to you as well."

"I don't mean to interrupt but are you Quillsh Wammy?" the woman asked hesitantly. Her youthful voice resonated with a prominent American accent which Quillsh took note of.

"Why, yes I am, madam." He lifted a bit of his black top hat and placed it back on his head full of white hair. "How may I help you?"

She raised her right hand weakly in front of her to offer him a handshake. "It's good to meet you, Mr. Wammy." The old man stared at her hand before looking back at her straight, shaking her hand professionally. "But it's about my daughter," she continued. "I would like to-have her taken in to your orphanage."

Quillsh glanced to the little girl just right behind her, holding softly onto the hem of the woman's red coat. The girl of light complexion flashed him a modest smile: shy but heartfelt. He smiled back at her, his lips curved and wrinkled under his white moustache. "I don't see a problem why I shouldn't let her stay here but I should probably decide why I have to," he said consolingly to the mother. "You do understand, madam?"

"Yes, Mr. Wammy."

"Perhaps I should know why you want to leave her here," he urged.

At that moment, the woman cringed bit by bit, nervously tucking strands of dark brown hair behind her ear. She began to recall everything that became the reason why she was there in the first place. She remembered her husband. Thoughts of her husband clouded her mind and it scared her. She wanted to tell the old man about this, ask him for comfort, seek refuge from what she believed were wrong decisions she made in her life. But she was hesitating; she did not want anyone else to get involved with her past. She did not want them to worry for her so she tried her best to keep it all inside. "I would like to keep it hush-hush, Mr. Wammy" was all the strength that she could say.

"I see," he replied, stroking his chin. "If the reason's that personal, then I don't think I should have the nerve to pry myself into it." He smiled flatly, so was the tone of his voice. "I still respect your reason and your decision to have her taken in. I just hope you won't have to regret anything in the end."

Slowly, he saw a small tremor crept on the woman's face and she started to weep. Her gloved-covered hands cupped her eyes and cheeks to catch her falling tears. Concerned, Quillsh stepped to her side, patted her gently on the back then handed her a white handkerchief which he pulled out from his pocket.

"There, there now. If the burden's too heavy for you to carry, I won't mind you confessing to me," he consoled, a hand offering her the handkerchief which remained suspended in the air.

"But Mr. Wammy…" she sniffed.

"It's alright. I figure it's the only way I can help you-" He slightly glanced to the little girl. "Besides taking full responsibility of your daughter." Putting the rejected handkerchief back in his pocket, Quillsh opened the gate and had his guests walk in. Upon entering, a lush wide open grass field welcomed them, with children of all ages scattered around it. The soft greenery brushed under the soles of their shoes as they walked to a small stairway that lead to a path to the establishment. He turned the heavy bronze knob of the main door and pushed it inside, gesturing his guests in before closing the door.

"This way to my office," he guided as the heels of his shoes clicked on the cold marble. With the mother and her daughter following right behind, the latter looked around in awe as if walking inside a museum. At the end of the long hallway, they have arrived in the promised room and were offered chairs to sit on. Quillsh took off his black coat and draped it on his coat rack before walking to his office desk and finally settling down on his swivel chair, facing his companions. Arms on his desk and fingers entwined, he began. "Go ahead, pray tell me."

The woman, though hesitating, turned her head to her side and nervously brushed her right arm, a maneuver that implied she was getting uncomfortable. "It's alright, madam," he guaranteed. "I will keep this sensitive information from reaching other people's ears. I'll ensure that. And don't worry about me," he chuckled. "This is your life. I won't let anyone not even myself get involved in it."

Struggling to let her guard down, she took in heavy sighs before finally unfolding what she had been trying so hard to keep inside as Quillsh listened intently. For an important entity in an underground network, her husband had always been an abusive man. He was a serious no-nonsense kind of man, and he meant business. Because of his work, he had scolded her countless times for not wanting to have children. He thought having children would only destroy his image, in his workplace most likely. His voice echoed in her memory with the same words he had bid her. Yet look at her now, sitting inside an orphanage with a little girl she brought into this world. The woman feared that if she stayed with him, he would not only be pouring out his rage on her but on their daughter as well, and she would not dare let that happen. No, not to her own daughter, the very life she was held responsible for.

The black-haired tyke, uninterested in what was being talked about, pulled out a booklet from the pocket of her gray coat and started reading. Minutes passed by and the mother went down to her conclusion, the reason why she wanted her daughter taken in.

Pondering about her account, the founder slumped back gently on his chair and rested his chin on his chest, stroking his white moustache. After a little while, he nodded and gave a self-assured smile, finally coming to a decision. "I understand now, madam," he reflected. "I know that this is not the best solution-" He glanced to her daughter concernedly before turning to face her again. "But understanding your situation more, I suppose there is no reason nor excuse for me to decline." He then stood up and walked to them. Placing a hand on the mother's shoulder, he spoke. "I'll take her in."

* * *

Once all the requirements were satisfied and the papers were filed, the three left the office and stood back on the main hall. The woman knelt and pulled her daughter by the arm to give her one last tight embrace. "I hope you will be good," she bid.

The girl stared at her with calm hazel eyes, the same as her mother's, and replied. "I will."

The woman stood up as she wiped her eyelids dry, with Quillsh opening the door for her. She stepped out and waved good bye before turning her back on them, her head raised and her sullen eyes casted to the dimming horizon, thinking of what was to become of her. The little girl simply watched her mother slowly fading in the distance.

When the woman was out of plain sight, the old man closed the door and turned to the girl. "Should you get homesick, just tell me, alright?"

She shook her head, a blank expression written all over her face. "But that's not how I feel Mr. Wammy," she replied.

"Oh? How come?"

"Because we both know that she's only doing what is best for all of us."

Thinking, his fingers stroked his white moustache. "You don't think quite like most of the children around here, I see," he commented. "They would usually get homesick and cry every time they'd miss their past homes."

The girl gave a dejected smile. "Unnecessary feelings only make things have a lot less sense, Mr. Wammy," she explained. "Why would anyone waste their time over something that does not make any sense?"

"Because they're pining for something more in their life." His lips curved slightly at a poor attempt of a smile. "Now, let's make a record of you here and then we will get you settled in your room."

Upon his word, the pair walked back to the founder's office. The little girl stepped out of her black Mary Jane shoes and perched on the chair she was previously sitting on, kneeling on it as she lowered her body on her legs which carried the rest of her weight, the cotton of her white knee-high socks rasping against the chair's felt cover. She was small but her height was outshone by her youthful face.

Quillsh sat back on his chair and opened a drawer, taking out a record book. He flipped to the page he last wrote on and set a hand holding a pen to it. "What is your name, my dear?"

"Thistle Meg, sir."

Writing what she said down on paper, he explained. "Here in The Wammy's House, children's names and their selected confidential information are kept hidden only in my record, so I suggest that you try not referring yourself with your real name but instead with an alias. Do you understand, my dear?"

"Yes, Mr. Wammy."

"It's alright, child. I won't let anyone know your name nor about other important information about you. You can absolutely trust me," he reassured warmly. "Based on your name, I can call you 'Temi'." He pronounced the word clear enough to emphasize and to help her understand how it was going to be the embodiment of her for the rest of her stay under his roof. "How's that?"

With a friendly smile making its way back on her lips, the girl nodded.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

23rd of December 1990, a Sunday. The winter solstice had started a day ago and sooner or later, snow would eventually start to fall. It was early dawn and the smog was lifting from the hazy town of Winchester, England. The crisp smell of cold dew and cigarette smoke filled the city air. As early as eight in the morning, several cars and double-decker buses filled the place of its usual city sounds. It seemed like another busy morning for even busier people on a Sunday.

Quillsh Wammy was walking along the solid pavement of the Winchester Abbey Grounds, his usual hat and coat on. The sun was mostly covered with dark stratus clouds, making the sky glum as grey. From the looks of all the layers of clothing he was wearing, the temperature was colder than it appeared.

' _What should I invest in this time?'_ he thought. As an aspiring businessman, it was Quillsh's daily routine to check out the classifieds and see if there were any good stocks he could invest in a day. With the latest copy of The Tribune in hand, he went to search for a park bench he could sit on. Settling down, he took the newspaper with both hands and leafed through its pages. He sighed wearily at the classifieds and continued reading through the news section. A few minutes later, Quillsh held the paper down, closed his eyes and deeply breathed in and out through his nose. He opened his eyes once more only to see a little boy standing by the right side of the bench he was sitting on.

The tyke's hands, partly covered by the long sleeves of his white shirt, were placed on the bench's arm rest. He looked at Quillsh observantly while the old man, caught by the boy's peculiar presence, studied him back. He could see that the lad had a poor posture, his back hunched slightly like a heavy weight he carried behind him made him that way. From his disheveled appearance, he looked like a lost soul without a home. His denim pants were soiled with patches of dirt, his feet were packed heavily into loose worn-out sneakers, and his black hair was tossed around messily on his head, complementing his overall pasty complexion. What Quillsh could not get his eyes off was the boy's resolute stare, his black pupils were aimed directly to the old man's as if he was reading right through his innermost thoughts. There were dark shadows under the boy's gaze signifying his lack of sleep, something Quillsh could not stand at all. A growing child needs plenty of sleep after all. Despite all his flaws, he was still an average-looking kid, a darling of a little boy.

"May I sit down?" the lad spoke all of a sudden. His voice, though young and innocent, was incredibly grave and monotonous.

Concerned, the old man folded his paper away and gave him a hundred percent of his attention. He smiled invitingly at the tyke and gestured him to sit right away. "Of course, you can."

"Thank you." The boy broke his gaze and climbed up the bench, the sleeve of his shirt stained by the rust from the arm rest and his feet resting flat on the lacquered wood. He lowered his body down and bended his knees which were nearly touching his chest. He rested one of his hands on his knee while biting on the nail of his other hand's thumb. With his feet carrying all of his weight, he appeared to be deep in thought. Quillsh stared quizzically at this posture. At what he can see, the boy looked more like crouching than sitting, like an owl or a vulture facing the horizon.

"Are you comfortable?" Quillsh asked earnestly. Seeing a child carry himself around like that was just too much for him to stand and it made him rather curious.

"I don't know," the lad replied. "I don't have a confident answer but all I know is I just feel better this way."

Unconvinced, the old man shrugged the thought away and continued to ask the boy more questions. "Why are you alone here by yourself? Where's your family?"

Turning his head to Quillsh's direction, he opened his mouth slightly but not a single word came out. Speechless, he turned away from him and thought once more. "I don't know where they are right now. That's all I know."

"Are you abandoned then?"

"No." The boy looked down sadly at the earth. "I just have nowhere else to go to."

"Why?" The man's bushy eyebrows furled, seeing that the conversation was getting serious. "I just don't understand why you have to be here all alone."

The boy nodded his head, staring into the nothingness in front of him. "I understand it very well but I just can't explain it."

"I see." Despite not knowing about the little boy's condition, Quillsh's mood lifted. He raised his left hand and gently placed it on the lad's. "In that case, would you like to live with us?"

With his attention caught, the child turned to the old man once more, his inquisitive eyes giving him a questioning look. Questions filled his mind, questions like _'Who?'_ , _'What?'_ , _'Why?'_. The most important of which for him was _'Where?'_

"I am the founder of The Wammy's House. It's an orphanage where kids like you can live and grow. We will take care of you and the other children with us. In time, they will be your family, your brothers and sisters. _We_ will be your family."

"Why do you want me to have a family?" the boy asked skeptically.

Quillsh smiled as he tried his best to make an impression. "You're still very young. You need people to take care of you, to help you grow. And when you're all grown up, you could probably accomplish something big one day."

For once, the young lad's strong gaze had broken into a soft stare. The expression on his face was still unreadable but his eyes were full of melancholy. At the same time, they had a hint of hope. "You really think that?"

"I'm not certain," the old man explained. "But I believe you can." He tucked the newspaper beneath his arm and stood up. "Come along. I don't have much to do today so I might as well take you to your new home."

The boy thought, biting noisily onto his thumbnail. "I haven't even agreed that I want to go there yet."

The man beamed at the lad's clever reply. "It's your decision if you want to go but know this, I'm always open if you've decided that you want to be with us."

He turned from his young companion and started walking away. Seconds later, he could hear small running footsteps coming from behind him, a young left hand later clasped onto his right. It was the boy he was talking to earlier. The old man gave him a light pet on the head and they continued walking on.

"Now, let's get something to keep you warm. You must be cold," he said tenderly. "We'll also be buying you some new clothes. How would you like a coat?"

The boy nodded. "Can all my clothes be the same as the one I'm wearing right now?"

Quillsh's eyes studied the young man once more. "Of course, though I suggest it should be fresh and clean, not all dirtied up like yours," he humored.

Unexpectedly, the boy flashed a gentle smile. For Quillsh, children smiling genuinely at him was one of the few things in this world that made his spirits soar. To him, taking in children into his orphanage was nothing new to him but knowing that the children he called his own were grateful for what he had done for them, it felt great for him. It was like him being the father to these little souls that would grow up and be successful in their own ways. He loved them all in their own way, each and every one of them. He would always find himself sad when they made wrong choices in life, but he still cared for them at least a little bit, like a father should.

"Do you have a name?" he asked.

"Lawliet."

"Lawliet," Quillsh repeated, studying the uniqueness of the name in the back of his mind. "Is that what you're called?"

He nodded. "It's my family surname."

"Well, it's a nice name."

The two continued to walk, hand in hand, on their way to Market Lane to shop for the little boy's clothes and possible necessities. On their way home, the snow had started to fall.

* * *

Sunday bells were ringing in the bell tower of the medieval establishment of The Wammy's House, signifying the end of Sunday service. There standing in front of the main gate were Quillsh Wammy and his new young companion. As snowflakes fell on them, the old man glanced to the boy listening intently to the bells. The resonance in the lad's ears was something he had never quite heard before and upon hearing them, he squeezed tighter onto Quillsh's hand.

When the ringing had dissipated, Quillsh interrupted his unperturbed young. "Now let's get you inside."

Upon entering the gate, the wide yard could be seen. There lay in front of them pale grass slightly covered in fresh snow which swayed slightly to the gentle gust of bitter cold wind. On the way, the black-haired boy saw dozens of children scattered unevenly at the front yard, playing, laughing and teasing with each other. The greenery lead to the short stairway to a path where several children drew images on it with colored chalk, the huge wooden door standing at its end. With a suitcase in hand, Quillsh turned the bronze knob and pushed the heavy door in. Once inside, a large hallway welcomed them upon their entry.

On the left wing were two doors, the right door bigger than the one on the left. "That room over there is a classroom," Quillsh explained to him while pointing to the left door. "And that is the door to the library," he said as he pointed to the other. North of the main hall was a long hallway. "Making a turn here is the way to my office, the lounge, the dining room and the kitchen." Finally, on the right wing was a closet, a staircase, bathrooms and a window. "Those stairs lead to the bedrooms, personal quarters and the attic, but there's much more that you can go to from here."

"This is a very nice place, Mr. Wammy," the boy replied, taking in all Quillsh had said.

"Well, I'm glad you like it, now let's get you settled. Come along and well make a record of you here."

With that said, the old man walked to his office, his companion following not far behind him, observing all of the orphanage's interior. Treading through the main hallway, the first thing he could see was a classroom. No, for him, it was not a classroom. There were children inside it but it did not look like they were studying nor doing anything scholarly. They were instead playing with various toys and listening to a story-teller, a teenaged woman, in their midst. The next room he passed by, however, was way quieter than the previous. The library, although there were fewer children inside, was incredibly silent. So was the lounge, seeing that there was only one person inside: a large woman softly playing a piano. Beside the lounge was the dining hall. Finally, at the very end of the hall, just before a small door that lead to the kitchen, was the office.

Once his papers were filed, the lad stood outside the office, his thumb playing with his lower lip, his coat and scarf left back in the room. He lifted his right foot and walked to the first door that was open. Inside it were a sofa set placed on soft velvety carpet, shelves of thick books, an old upright piano, glass windows with red ruffled curtains, oil paintings hung on each wall of the room, a fireplace with a painting above it, antique chairs and tables, a side table with a vase full of red roses, and a small door for the comfort room.

' _This must be the lounge,'_ he thought then turned away to visit the other vacant rooms. About an hour later, he had made his way back to the main hallway's opening and saw some children coming in. A ginger-haired boy about his age was the first to enter. Tossing a ball up and down in the air with his hands, he was talking to his comrades trailing right behind him.

"I wonder what we're having for lunch," he asked his blond companion. Just before anyone of them could answer, their attention was caught by an unfamiliar kid standing in their way. The black-haired boy gazed at them intently, his thumb stuck on his lip.

"He doesn't look familiar, does he?" the ginger asked.

"Yeah, he's new here, alright."

"Maybe we can play rough with him. A welcome present perhaps?" he suggested impishly.

"Let's get him!"

"Hey, a new face! Let's cuddle him," the ginger called out to his companions before stampeding to the boy in an attempt to corner him. As they came close enough to him, the young brunet was surrounded by children enveloping him with their arms. He observed their gestures questioningly before it came to him that their 'hugs' were getting painful, and they turned out to be grabbing him with painful grips and punches. Aggravated, he greeted them in return with kicks which sent them flying to the floor.

Surprised, Quillsh heard a commotion coming from the main hallway. He went out from his office only to find injured children lying on the floor. They were groaning in pain, dazed as the culprit of the scenario stood there staring blankly at them, his thumb still intact on his lip. "What… What happened here?!" the old man panicked.

"After saying 'A new face! Let's cuddle him,' they employed violence against me. They are the ones who started it," the boy answered confidently in his usual monotonous tone. "I am justice."

"That's not true!" the blond excruciatingly gritted through his teeth, holding firmly onto his stomach which had apparently been kicked.

* * *

A week after the incident, the little boy familiarized himself with his new environment. For him, this was crucial, understanding that many of the children could not get along with him. Maybe it was even more; they just really could not stand him. Perhaps it was his bizarre approach that threw them off from him, or perhaps he just really did not want anyone around, knowing that he never needed the extra attention. Or maybe because they were futile to him. Not that he did not want anyone to play with, but he just could not find someone who can match with his way of thinking. Perhaps he has already found someone but did not want to play with them anyway. Or maybe because he just really wanted to be alone. No one knew why, not even his sole caretaker.

Quillsh went to the classroom and saw the boy isolated from his colleagues, quietly solving a jigsaw puzzle at the far corner of the room while the rest were playing their own games. They did not mind him nor even noticed what he was doing. To them, it was like he was never even there at all. They were laughing, screaming. One boy was bawling near the first window of the room.

"You can all play outside now, children. I think you can be dismissed early today," the old man announced.

In an instant, the tykes rushed to the door as quick as they could like fish released from a cage, except for the brunet who was apparently busy solving his puzzle and was surrounded by other similar toys. As his concerned guardian, Quillsh began to think of the lad's situation. The boy was utterly incompatible with the others. That was as far as anyone can comprehend. He also monopolized the things he liked because he was stronger, always playing by himself. Seeing that the child might be having social issues, the old man was pondering for solutions.

"Mr. Wammy, I would like to do harder puzzles or games," the lad spoke softly.

When Quillsh approached him, he was astonished to see the child solving a puzzle that would have required days to solve, even with several children helping each other finish it. Yet look at the young one now, he was well on his way to its completion from all four corners to the middle. Never had Quillsh seen someone finish a jigsaw puzzle this difficult in one sitting, especially not by a child. It was soon obvious that the boy possessed certain outstanding abilities.

Knowing about this, the young was then named L by the orphanage's founder himself, the first letter of his only known identity. The old man knew it was silly to give the child a letter for an alias, given that his surname was the only thing known about him. But Quillsh still confidently did so, knowing that the boy deserved to earn that name eventually, a significant letter at that.

A couple days later, considering that the child would need some space to stretch himself, Quillsh presented him with a room of his own. Its walls were padded with white cushions and the floor covered with white tiles.

"A private room is nice, Mr. Wammy," L said, stepping inside and the pads of his bare feet resting on the tiled floor of his room.

Since then, the child had been spending more of his time in his new private room than outside it. He only went out probably to use the toilet or to get something to eat. Three days later, when Quillsh went inside his room to check on him, he began to talk.

"Mr. Wammy, communication through computer would give me power." He hooked his index finger on his bottom lip. "That sort of environment, can it be gotten?"

At a time when the internet was still not widespread, L was already asking for the equipment. Nonetheless, Quillsh purchased said device, a model of Apple Macintosh II personal computer, and presented it to L. Afterwards, the boy almost always sat in front of it without moving, his back had arched even more because of his preferred posture. Quillsh thought it was a good investment since it kept the boy preoccupied but at the same time, he was irked by it. He could see how the boy was completely absorbed by the power of technology at such an early age. Children around his phase should be playing, inside the orphanage or outside in the open. That was what the founder knew on how the lad should be spending his youth on. But then he remembered, L was not quite like the other kids.

One day, the brunet had his hands busy. His ink-jet printer buzzed and bleeped as fold upon fold of printed paper rolled out. "Mr. Wammy, please buy one million pound with Japanese yen," he instructed, holding out the paper to Quillsh in between his index finger and thumb. He was pinching on it like he never wanted to touch it in the first place. Though the paper was completely clean, his hold on it appeared like he was taking out something that had been badly contaminated. He always had been gripping items like that since no one knows when. His hold was delicate but also, it was firm. "After that, all the company stocks written here that can be bought, please buy them."

The old man just sighed. Trusting in him, Quillsh did so without a word and kept investing as L said. As days went by, his investments were all becoming worthwhile; his assets slowly rose in amount just as L had predicted. To Quillsh, not only did L help him unintentionally with his business but L himself had become an important asset to him. More than an asset; he had become his foundation.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Mid-April of 1991, a Monday. It was springtime; trees and flowering plants were all in bloom and the air had that floral spring-like scent in it. From time to time, L would leave his room and make his way to the classroom just to play with the toys. Undoubtedly, children avoided him and instead set their sights to the story-teller, a teenage girl, sitting in their middle and reading out loud from a book she held in her hands. While the children were gathered around her, L was at a distance playing with a Tower of Hanoi puzzle, his ears listening in to her tale. Minutes later, she closed the book and rested it playfully on her lap. "I guess that wraps up today's story, children. Any questions about it?"

While some were voluntarily saying 'no', the children briskly shook their heads. Looking at her wristwatch, she decided to finally release the kids back to the wild (their wilderness, at least). It was almost lunch time anyway, she thought. At that instant, she dismissed the rascals before walking to the shelf where she had pulled out the book from, her sneakers squeaking against the polished floor.

"I still don't understand why you have to make them listen to such stories," the black-haired boy deadpanned, not bothering to lift his eyes from his puzzle. Alice was a devout Catholic, and she had volunteered to do the task of initiating story time to the children. Taking advantage of this, she read to the orphans stories from children's Bible story books. From the way she read to them, it was like an assembly for a Christian bible study. L was not devout like her. He wanted to believe in her but there was this logic boiling in his brain that constantly told him not to. So he did not. He never did.

"Because some of the children like them," she retaliated. "Don't you like them?"

"Not one bit, no. It would have been better if you read to them something a little bit more relatable to real life, like biographies or important events from history books."

"Well, the children like them," she rejected and gave him a light pat on the head. "Besides, I don't think they would find stories like those interesting."

"They are actually interesting, more than those you've been reading to them would ever be."

"Don't worry." The playful smirk on her face was still intact. "One day, if I got very lucky, you just might begin liking them as well." With that said, she instantly left the room.

' _Angels? Demons?'_ he thought provokingly. _'Gods? I know the universe started from a speck of dust but there's just little to no evidence to prove their existence.'_

He stood up, his back still arched like it was permanent that way and cannot be straightened out. He then picked up the toy he was playing with, placing it back on its shelf. Looking out from one of the classroom windows, he could still see children playing outside. Something peculiar caught his attention though. It was a group of kids, four of them to be exact, who seemed to be talking. Although around his age, they were still quite unusual kids compared to the ones L had to be with, seeing that they appeared to be engaged in deep conversation. Despite trying to read their lips, L could not make out what they were saying. Just as he was about to leave, Quillsh walked to him and draped a hand on his shoulder.

"It is lunch time, L," he reminded behind the boy. Giving the kids one last look before leaving, L turned to Quillsh and made their way out of the classroom.

About an hour later, L walked down the staircase and on to the main entrance. Upon opening the door, he saw clusters of children everywhere on the soft green grass. He went to the small stairway and sat there in his usual crouch, his thumb placed on his bottom lip, quietly observing the children and the randomness they enjoyed doing. _'This is mind-numbing.'_

Remembering what he saw earlier, he went to where the four kids were to see that they have returned and approached them. A red-haired girl noticed him in the middle of her speech, her pupils shone like emeralds as they scanned him despite her hair piling around her face. The same blond boy who was among the first to greet him to the orphanage (albeit not nicely) knelt up and gave him an unwelcoming glare.

"It's not nice to interrupt a girl in the middle of her sentence," he warned crossly.

The red-head placed a hand in front of the blond to stop him. Her chin-length red tresses covered almost the entirety of her face, exposing only her nose, mouth, and the rest of its right side, although her left eye was still slightly intact beneath strands of her ginger locks. Her green pupils stared intently at her defensive colleague as if to say _'Let me handle this'_. In the end, the blond just sat back and watched her deal with the rogue.

"What do you want here?" she inquired. Her voice was inviting but at the same time frigid, a tiny Russian accent resonating in it.

"I'll tell you what he'll do," the blond butt in, kneeling up from his seat once more. "He'll make us leave this spot, this one spot where we can all hang out."

"Why would he do that?" a blonde girl asked, her tongue fluttering with an obvious French tone.

He angrily pointed a finger to L, and his voice trembled. "So he can claim this spot as his."

The girl gave him a doubtful glare. "That's ridiculous."

"I think you're just scared because he just might kick your arse again," a boy with a black beanie casually remarked. He had Cultivated Australian English in his tone. It did not sound obvious but was still recognizable.

"No, I'm not!" he argued. "And stay out of this, you animal lover!"

"Clem, enough," the red-head spoke calmly yet sternly to the infuriated child.

Thinking he had done what he could, the blond sat down, brushing the grass off the knees of his khaki pants. The girl had her steady eyes set on L, observing him deftly. She knew who he was, the kid who made quite an impression by the time he arrived in the orphanage. The kid who preferred to be on his own and turned down the company of others. He possessed a certain trait that interested her. He was a mystery. He was trouble, and the hairs on her arm stood up whenever trouble was being talked about. She liked to play it rough.

"As I was saying," she said, gently speaking to the onlooker in front of her.

"I was just curious of what you four were talking about, that's all," L replied to his interrogator casually, his voice still in its monotonous tone.

"And why do you think we will let you know what we were talking about?"

"I'm not going to use violence against you, unlike your friend here," he said matter-of-factly, indicating the blond. "But I will if you're persistent in not telling me what you were talking about."

"Oh, really?" She crossed her arms, testing his patience. She can sense his eagerness to know based on the boy's response. "As if it will interest you."

The lad was getting irritated by her stalling. "Would it be wrong if you just told me what you were talking about?"

"Look, kid." Fed up with the chase, she stood up from her seat and walked to the boy's side, dusting off traces of grass on her denim shorts. Putting an arm on his shoulders, her black shirt clashed against his white long-sleeved one. "We're talking about important news and happenings based on what's printed on today's paper." She had picked up a copy of The Tribune from the ground, holding it in front of L who gently took it from her hands. "Kids like you probably won't be interested in things like these. No, all you kids ever think about was play with your toys, completely ignorant of what is happening outside this orphanage. There's more to life than playing, you know? Do you understand where this conversation's getting to?"

The little boy quietly nodded, his eyes fixed on the printed paper. "Now that you understand, will you just leave this to us then?" she asked.

Pondering of the situation he got himself into, L turned to the girl. "What if I told you that I am interested?"

She narrowed her eyes looked at him. "Please, like you really are."

"I really am." At that moment, L's eyes glowed, fascinated with the headlines written on the paper he held. He knew he was just holding a newspaper but to him, it was like the greatest story book had fallen into his hands, a story book that reflected what was happening in the outside reality. It was not like any of the books the story-teller had read to him. It was just the right kind of material he was looking for. All the crimes, the testaments sprinkled everywhere in each page thrilled him. It was just an ordinary newspaper that landed on his hands but for him, it felt like Christmas. "I want to be involved in this alliance," he declared, the same unreadable expression written all over his face.

For once, the red-head had nothing to say. It was absolutely fine for her to let him join them if he was this interested. She wanted to know him more but she was not so sure about how her subordinates would agree. She turned to her mates, implicitly soliciting them for their considerations. The blond obviously shook his head in rejection. The other two just gave her ambiguous responses.

"I don't know, Roma," said the French girl, nervously pulling on a lock of her long platinum blond hair. "No way could I be unbiased with this situation, but I just think we should have more interested children with us."

"I agree." Her fingers swept some of her locks off, showing off the full of her face, that was before the tresses could fall back to where they were. "Maybe we should give him a chance."

The beanie boy nodded. "Then I don't have a problem with that."

The blond looked on irritably, unaccepting of what his comrades had agreed on, letting in a potential rival to their circle. A rival to him at least.

* * *

As promised, the four, with L sitting among them, continued where they left off. Their leader, the red-headed Roma, had started the discussion thread starting from the headlines written in the largest text: the purse snatching incident of Clifton Road. Holding the newspaper, she stated her opinions on the suspect and his motives in doing so. The conversation went on news after news, a consistent exchange of words entered their ears and filled their minds. Time passed by and soon, it was around 2:30 in the afternoon yet their discussion remained steady. In the middle of the young Clem's speech, a little girl ran to their direction, interrupting him.

"I'm sorry I'm so late," she huffed. "I was helping Esme out with the chores. We were having a good talk so I thought it would be rude to-"

"It's alright, Temi," their leader spoke. "Though I suggest you stop helping her with trivial chores and focus on more important things." Her eyebrows curved as she flashed her a concerned stare, the sound of her voice never losing its calm composure.

The girl sat down on a spot beside their chief, her legs folded to her left. "Yeah, you've already said that before," she replied meekly. She then gestured the blond Clem to continue and their talks went on for an hour and a half.

It was on their final remarks when a new face in their circle caught the brunette's eye. "I'm sorry to interrupt but I think he's new here," she whispered to her seatmate, referring to the black-haired child.

"He is." The beanie boy crossed his arms, obviously getting bored of the confab. "Though he's pretty engaged with our conversations, we don't know anything about him yet. We don't even know what we should call him."

"Well, that's just sad."

Recalling something, she turned her head away and thought of what it was. "I just remembered. There's an important errand I have to attend to." She stood up and bowed to her companions, excusing herself politely before parting from them.

Glancing onto the orphanage clock, Roma could tell it was already getting late. It was about time she came to the conclusion of their talk. "Does anyone have anything else to say?" she asked.

L raised his hand like a child in recitation class. "I have. I appreciate you letting me be involved in your informative group." He lowered his hand, placing a thumb in his mouth. "But I suggest that you focus on the more important news."

Questioningly, her eyebrows curled. "Important news? Every news article here is important."

"That's not what I meant. I'm saying that you should leave out those which are completely unnecessary and instead focus on those which remained unsolved or have covert agendas for thorough expansion of ideas. For example, according to this-" He held a newspaper up between two fingers, displaying a news headline. "Six men are held liable for selling drugs. They haven't been caught yet, but based on the Intel, these men have been involved in other serious crimes in the past." He then set the newspaper back on the ground. "It may not be in eye level but their crimes have a connection to each other. The worst possible scenario I can come up with this is that they could be working for a syndicate. If the police will subscribe to this hypothesis, they could locate a group that leads to an even bigger branch of their operations." L paused, staring at his slack-jawed companions. "Do you get my drift?"

"Yes, I see." Roma rubbed her chin, figuring out just what he meant. "I suppose we could give your suggestion of changing our briefing procedure a try, that is, if the others are willing to accept it." She turned to her subordinates. "What do you guys think?"

"That's a good idea," the beanie boy attested. "Aye, it really is but don't you think we should be talking about something more important?"

Roma narrowed her eyes at him. "What could be more important than this?"

"Maybe trying to get to know our new pal here better." He gestured to L, shoving him gently with his elbow.

"Alright," she sighed and looked at the pale little boy tolerantly. "I guess we haven't been properly introduced. I'm Roma. This is Clem." She indicated the blond kid. "You two have already met before, I presume."

"Yes," the brunet answered. "Apparently from the very day I arrived here."

' _Shut up,'_ Clem mumbled to himself. That was the last thing L could say that would tick him off.

"Over there is Ventose," pointing to the beanie boy. "And that is Ether. Now that you have something to call us by, I think it's your turn to introduce yourself."

Ether, the only girl subordinate present at the time, stared inquisitively at L, observing him and carefully touching his messed-up hair like they were the leaves of an unknown plant. She went on to observe how he looked while L stared at her like a boa encircling its prey.

"He looks like an owl," she candidly concluded.

"Now that you mention it, he does," Clem chortled. "That's rude, Ether, unless that's what you want to call him."

She scratched the back of her head. "Well, that's kinda what I want to call him anyway."

"If that's what Ether wanted to call him, then I say that's what we call him too!" the blond shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

"Yes!"

"Enough!" the red-head interrupted. "Do you think I'll just let you people go around and give whatever nicknames you want to people? What do you think they are? Pets?"

Getting a grip on the situation, L hung his head, pokerfaced to the ground. "Let them."

Upon hearing his words, the leader vigorously pulled L by his arm, dragging him with her away from their circle. "You're just going to let them call you an owl and get away with it. What are you thinking?!"

He briskly pulled his arm back from her. "My sole purpose here is to participate in your discussions. That is my only concern. I don't care what you call me because it will all have the same outcome even if you did address me with a decent nickname," he explained, the monotonousness of his voice peppering his words. "Nonetheless, I will see you tomorrow." Stuffing his hands indifferently inside his pants pockets, he started walking away.

Ventose, concerned of how badly the brunet was treated, ran to him and caught him by the sleeve of his shirt. "Hey, Owl-I mean friend," he stuttered, unsure of how to call him. "I'm really sorry about the guys over there. They were acting like jerks. They usually aren't that… jerky." His voice sounded jaded, but it was sober.

"It's alright," calmly replied L, the two of them walking to the main door side by side. They had left their colleagues behind who were still sitting on the same spot. He preferred to let Clem and Ether do what they want rather than make a scene with them. Not because of the peril it would bring to his image, but simply because he did not find the motivation to do anything to them. To him, they were not worth the effort. "It may be my fault for causing you distress since I had a row with one of your companions, not to mention he was being overly-defensive just because of it. The effect of the incident to him is ridiculous but I think I can comprehend his case. I may have given myself a bad impression to him and to the other children, but I understand that."

"Nah, it's not your fault. No disrespect to him but it's just that Clem has the biggest ego around here. He's his own self-proclaimed alpha male in this place. Well, he was until you came along. He thought nobody could get a crack at dethroning him but look at you, sending him flying to the floor when you hit him in the nicker."

Thinking about what the kid said, L could not help but hide a little smile that crept on his lips. He knew he was good at pissing people off but he never expected that he would be that good. _'Clem might be taking it to his grave,'_ he thought. "I suppose that's true."

"Hey," the beanie boy paused. He then finally took off his top piece, exposing a headful of chestnut brown hair. He raised his other hand to offer the guy a handshake which was hesitatingly accepted. "Ventose, by the way."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

The orphanage clock had just struck eight o'clock in the morning.

"Are you going?" the black-haired boy asked the orphanage's founder. The child was sitting on a couch in his room and scooping a spoonful of strawberry parfait into his mouth. Since his first day at Wammy's, L ate alone, often eating his meals in his room which were delivered to him by Quillsh. Not only were his table manners bizarre but so were his meals. L ate nothing but sweets and other similar foodstuffs every single day. Even he has no explanation why he resorted to eating confectionaries twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. But for him, it was the only kind of food that could satisfy his hunger which was why he had requested Quillsh to feed him with so.

"Certainly. It's been a while since an inventor's conference was held in London. It's about time we present to the general public once more the creations we have worked on for the past year. They would be thrilled to see more of our work," he spoke enthusiastically.

Even before L had entered the orphanage, Quillsh had been a prosperous inventor, working with his colleagues, Roger Ruvie and Sander Wilkes. Through the years, they had created various handiworks of specific uses, most of which were used for simple every day necessities.

"Mr. Ruvie and Mr. Wilkes, am I correct?" L recalled.

"Indeed." Quillsh smiled. "I will meet my co-workers there and see that our labors have finally paid off. Besides, conventions are great places to get ideas for what we're going to do next."

Curious, the old man peered to his companion who traced a smudge of strawberry syrup in his goblet with his finger, placing it in his mouth. "Take your time, child. It doesn't even start by ten o'clock."

Unbeknownst to him, L had already placed his spoon down and set the food tray aside. "I'm already done." He then stood up and gave a small nod. "Thank you for the meal."

With that, the pair walked out of the room, Quillsh carried L's food tray on his way to the kitchen while L made his way to the classroom, his hand stuffed in his pockets. A peculiar sight welcomed the young lad though; the classroom was completely empty. Usually right after he had finished his breakfast, he would step down the stairs to that door, opening a noisy room of tykes playing around while he went to his typical spot right at the other end of the room. But this time, there was nobody inside, not even the story-teller. He looked out to one of the classroom windows to see the same kids he had met the day before. This time, there were only three of them, a couple of members deficient.

"Miss Alice called in sick today," spoke a familiar voice behind him, referring to the story-teller. "That's probably why there's no one here."

"Still." L turned to the same beanie boy he met before. "I don't see why they don't have to come in here and play with the toys."

Ventose walked to L and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Because some children want to play with other children. There's a good feeling when there's this interaction between the one who's playing and the one they're playing with. And I think, that's something toys can't provide."

"I must dislike interacting then."

The beanie boy thought. "Maybe you're just not that good with people. That makes a difference." His hand gently slid off on L's shoulder. "Well, I have to go. Don't want to keep the guys waiting for me."

"You may be right." The brunet then placed a thumb on his lip, a habit he did whenever he was in deep thought. "Have you already read today's news?"

"No. I just let all the details unfold in the convo. That actually makes it easier for me to think."

"I suppose I should do some reading. Maybe I'll see you later."

"Aye." He started walking away. "See you then."

* * *

Through the newspaper section in the library, L had picked up the latest scoop from the paper rack. He was well on his way to a vacant table when a young girl he encountered yesterday caught his eye, walking to his direction. Her preoccupied hazel eyes were set on a couple of books she was holding before raising her stare to the kid coming at her. With her attention caught, she examined the young boy albeit precariously before finally recognizing who he was.

"Hey!" she greeted, a gentle smile appeared on her lips. "You're that new kid, right?" Her accent was undoubtedly American with a hint of British tongue, L could tell.

Scratching the back of his head, the boy replied. "By 'new', I suppose you mean 'someone you've never met before'. I've already been staying here for a year if you didn't even bother to know. Also, I'm not officially a member of your group nor do I have the plan to be, as far as you're concerned."

"Yeah, I didn't know any of that. I'm sorry that I had to leave early yesterday though. There was this-" Her distracted eyes trailed to the newspaper the boy held in his hand. "You're going to read today's newspaper, aren't you?"

He nodded and replied flatly. "I think it's required to go to the meeting prepared so I might as well read."

"I haven't read yet," she thought. Seeing the newspaper rack, she pulled another copy of the same paper. "Come with me," she urged enthusiastically, quickly holding the boy by his hand, and walked to a door between one of the shelves, dragging the lad behind her. "I know where we can read without anyone scolding us."

"Huh?" he muttered, baffled by a little girl who went on her nerve to pull him so suddenly. He was not used to being tugged by anyone, especially not by a girl. Reluctant (and somewhat annoyed), he did not know what to do in a situation like this. The promise of a nice reading space was all that went through his head. In the end, he just let her lead him to wherever it was that she wanted to take him to.

Once in front of the room, she pushed the door in, walking inside it. "Come on in," she whispered. Hesitantly, L entered and closed the door. His companion flicked the light switch with a nearby projector stick. Opening the lights, the room revealed a huge chalkboard at the very front with complex formulations still written on it. At the right side of the room were shelves with jars of preserved species of plants and animals and chemistry sets. At the left were microscopes lined neatly on a table with other scientific exhibits. And at the very back were larger apparatuses. Never had L seen for real such intricate contraptions before in his life.

"It's a classroom," the girl introduced, walking to a nearby lecture table. "Informal classes are being taught here for interested children. Mr. Wammy showed this place to me about a year ago. He noticed that I was always being scolded by the kids for being too noisy in the library hence this. Since then, I've done my readings here a lot."

Looking around, L walked close to a telescope, careful not to touch it. "This is a nice place."

"You're welcome!"

The lad then walked to the very first study table and pulled himself a seat. He climbed up the chair and perched in his usual crouch. "How come none of the children knows about this room?"

"No one's interested I guess. Also, I never told anyone about it, and whenever I'm using it-" She locked the door from the inside. "I make sure the door is locked, something I've been told to do to make sure no one can come in."

She pulled a seat beside L, later pulling out a small heavy box full of paper to help her sit up on a chair, placing her books on the table. "I know I'm short so don't make fun of my height, okay?"

"I won't," he denied, observing her closely. The boy was probably several inches taller than her even with his back arched, given that he is around a couple years older. "You're actually quite resourceful for someone your height."

The girl made a small pout before an awkward smile returned on her face. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It is a compliment," L clarified though confused of her remark.

"Never mind," she sighed. "Let's just start reading then."

Laying out their newspapers on the table, the two of them began reading and discussing headline after headline of news. About an hour later, she interrupted in the middle of their reading.

"Look at this," she said, pointing at a news article. "One of those drug dealers from yesterday's news was caught. It says here he's been charged previously of selling another type of substance a long time ago." She pulled out a notebook from under her books and flipped to where she last left off. "Though it's not obvious, the drugs that he was selling now are worth more than the drugs that he was selling before. From the data I gathered from testaments, it is implied that all the drugs he was selling were manufactured by the same producer." She was writing her observations down on her notebook. "What I can conclude from this is that he's working for this producer of drugs which was later bought by a company that engages in a monopoly of even bigger producers."

"That's just as what I pointed out to the group." L placed his thumb on his mouth. "No one noticed it but I did."

"That's great! What did they say?"

"I'm not certain. They might have rejected my hypothesis and also my suggestion," he said, biting harder onto his thumbnail.

"Suggestion?"

"That they should focus more on crimes like these." The chewing sounds he made with his nail filled the room eerily. "But I guess they think it's just a waste of time predicting ways to solve them. Instead, they resort to discussing cases which are way easy to predict, something that even police stations would be too ignorant to notice." His foot scratched his other, another habit he had. "That's how they think."

The girl scoffed. "They can't be reliable detectives when they've grown up then." She closed her notebook and placed it under her stack of books.

Studiously, L stared at her. "What's your name?"

She breathed tiredly though her gentle smile was still intact. "Temi."

* * *

Lunch time. It was when the pair had left the library and went their separate ways. L individually ate in his room while the others did so in the dining hall. After eating, some of the children went back to what they were previously doing, some became engaged in a different activity. Temi stayed in the kitchen where she would voluntarily help their housekeeper Esme with her chores. A large woman wearing the stereotypical apron, she was washing the dishes while Temi wiped them dry with a washcloth, carefully placing them in their drawers.

"Hey, Esme," she cheerily spoke, stacking the last of the plates inside, closing the drawer.

The woman wiped the sweat off her forehead and neck with a face towel. "What is it, dear?"

"I made a new friend."

"That's nice." Exhausted, the woman sat down on one of the kitchen chairs.

"He's a pretty weird kid but he's somewhat nice." At that moment, she hesitated thinking that 'somewhat' might have been an inappropriate word to describe him.

"Weird?" She smirked at her cheekily. "And a he, at that."

"Esme," she chuckled. "He's a friend, and I just barely met him today!"

"But I know how friendly you are, Temi girl." She raised an index finger to the child, lecturing her. "I'm just thinking about how approachable you can be and how it might cause you some trouble."

"It's okay. I know how to handle myself and you know me well enough, Esme. Trust me."

"Oh, alright," she sighed. The little girl then pulled out a chair and climbed up so she can sit on it. Seeing the young one struggling on her own, Esme sat up from her chair and lifted the girl by her waist, placing her on the chair like a porcelain doll, before sitting on her own chair once more. "So, a 'weird' new friend. Tell me more about him."

The girl nodded. "Well, he doesn't look so friendly but he's not so bad once you get to know him better I guess," she thought, tucking strands of stray hair behind her ear. Her long black hair was held in a ponytail but shorter strands of her naturally wavy hair were piling just beside her cheek, framing her youthful face along with her fringed bangs. "He's a very smart kid."

"I see. What does he look like?"

"You know that boy with the black hair?"

"There are many boys here with black hair, Temi."

"No, no. His black hair's different. His hair is a mess like he just woke up from a bad dream." Esme nodded, putting the image in her mind. "He looked like he hasn't taken a bath yet, but no. He smells really good like shampoo. What I can come up with is that he's just really lazy that he never bothered to comb his hair. Did I mention that he has eye bags? He must be not sleeping that good at night. Could he be having recurrent nightmares?" For a second, she paused then licked her dried-out lips. "Oh, and he also walks around with a hunched back. It looks kinda disturbing like he's down with a terrible fever or something but he isn't. What do you think, Esme?"

"Sounds familiar." Intrigued, Esme scratched her temple. She snapped her fingers when she finally got a good idea of who they were talking about. "Is he wearing any shoes?"

"No, but he's wearing some clothes. That's decent though, right?"

"There's no dress code here, Temi, so it's completely decent even if you're not wearing any shoes," the woman bantered.

"I know that," she snickered at the woman's response. "I just think it's very uncomfortable stepping on the cold floor with bare feet."

"What's he wearing then?"

"Nothing special. Just a white shirt and jeans I guess."

At that instant, Esme remembered who he was. The boy who wore the same long-sleeved white shirt and denim jeans every day, the boy who looked like a storm just went by him, the infamous boy who secluded himself from others, whom she prepared some of the cakes and desserts that he had for his meals. The boy who Quillsh had high regard for. She knew he was smart but she also knew he was inclined to being asocial, keeping his distance from others. It was difficult for her to believe that the boy she knew about was the same boy Temi befriended.

"Oh. That boy?" she doubted.

"Yeah, that boy."

"I haven't met him properly yet but I do see him around from time to time. Not that I have anything bad against him but from what I've heard from others, they say he's a complete outcast, a black sheep."

Temi's eyes widened, interested in where their conversation was getting. "Why would they call him that, Esme?"

The woman crossed her legs. "Remember that time when Clem and his buddies were sent to the infirmary?"

"Yeah?"

"I wasn't there to see what happened but there were a couple of witnesses and I happened to eavesdrop on them talking about the whole thing."

"You eavesdropper. What was it?"

"Don't tell anyone but they said it was your new friend who kicked Clem and his friends away for rough-housing with him on the very day he arrived here in Wammy's."

Hearing the news, the little girl's eyes dilated. "Really?"

"Then the rumors spread from one kid to another. Since then, the kids avoided him in fear that he might hurt them as well. Aside from that, I also heard that he took authority over some toys in the classroom, those which he likes to play with. I don't know why he distanced himself from the kids though. Trust issues, perhaps?"

"But he was probably just startled." The tone of her voice had a hint of worry. "The poor guy. I know that if kids were to hit me when I first set foot here, I would probably do the same thing."

"Maybe. I'm just trying to warn you, girl." She stood up from her seat. "You might not know what kind of person he is so be wary. I don't know what trouble he might cause you if you're not too careful."

"Trouble, huh?" she thought, her elbow placed on the table and her face rested on her hand, letting out an engrossed smile.

* * *

Two o'clock in the afternoon. L went to where the same four kids were and sat on his usual spot beside Ventose. Clem, who was tasked to report the rest of the headline alongside Ether, did not pause a second and went on. Temi joined the band later and sat beside their leader. Soon, the blond was already done with his speech.

"Thank you, Clem," spoke Roma, moving on to a different topic. "As requested by our comrade here, we are to focus on the more substantial news bits." She then turned to face L. "So far, there aren't any more news that I can fit with your criteria. Do you have anything else to point out?"

L's right foot scratched on his left as he raised his thumb to his bottom lip. _'His facts were insufficient, incomplete,'_ he thought. He would like to bring that up but if he were to consider that, he would just most likely irk the the end, he just stared soberly to the ground, his black pupils eyeing the grass beneath him, disappointed still.

"Since that's the last of the more interesting headlines, I suppose that wraps up today's meeting," Roma announced.

"What?!" Ether jumped. "Are you serious?"

"Wait, aren't we going to have a thorough discussion of this more?" Temi interrupted, turning to face Clem. "Clem, no disrespect, but I think there were some points you didn't mention."

"Well, what do you suppose?" he asked. "There isn't much to dig into today's news and I thought it would be a great idea to have an earlier dismissal time. It would give me a chance to catch up with my dodgeball buddies."

"But there's so much you missed."

"Hey, quit it," Ether fickly interrupted. "Why would you, someone who goes to our meetings so late, force Clem, who is obviously working his arse off for this report, to look for something that is hardly even there?"

Dismayed by her comrade's response, Temi took out a piece of paper from the pocket of her black skirt and handed it to Roma. It was a page from her notebook, the same page she was writing on earlier during her time in the library. "Think of it as my way to make up for all the things I missed," she said.

Roma skillfully read through the paper the young girl handed to her. It was Temi's written report of the same thing Clem delivered: the crime of the apprehended drug dealer. In her report, however, she had made it more thorough and consistent as she had promised earlier, her points not missing a detail. Impressed, the red-head handed the paper back to her. "Nicely written."

All brunette could do was nod her head.

"What was that all about?" the French girl asked in confusion.

"Temi presented me her written report of her findings on the same case you and Clem had reported," Roma explained, her calm voice slightly agitated. "And it was more substantial than what both of you can come up with, way more."

Ether answered meekly. "I'm sorry, Roma, but that was the best we could do."

"I'm not judging you because of the poor performance you did, but it was because you were putting down someone who had something important to contribute to your report simply because she is almost always late to our meetings. Had you not realized that Temi could've reported it better than both of you combined?"

"Then what do you suggest? Make us go to the meetings late like Temi does?" Clem asked.

"That's not what I meant!" she countered and continued reprimanding her two subordinates, her green eyes glowing furiously at them like emeralds. Disheartened for her, Ventose raised an open palm to a discouraged Temi, offering a high-five to raise her spirits up. Seeing this, she flashed him a familiar smile and smacked her hand on his.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

The Wednesday morning after and L was checking out the day's newspaper in the library. Another drug smuggler had been caught, this time charged additionally with the possession of illegal firearms it seemed. Even without reading the article, L could sense its linkage to the previous day's news headline. Carrying the newspaper, he went to the room his colleague showed him a day ago. He had remembered the way to the room like the back of his hand.

Whenever inside its walls, he felt a sense of tranquility. The silence inside and the scientific equipment surrounding him gave a conducive atmosphere for studying. Unlike Temi, he never bothered to lock the door like she did. He might have been thinking that perhaps she would like to join him somehow. He might have felt sort of bad if she knew she could not enter the one place that she called her palace, seeing that the door had been locked from the inside. Or maybe he was just too lazy to even lock the door. Despite all this, his true intention remained ambiguous. No one really knew how the brunet pondered, what was going on in his thoughts. L's mind, though complex and profound, was always a difficult one to figure out. He had always been a mystery to people, a tough nut to crack. He was the only one sure of himself and what he was thinking.

As he had predicted, the same little girl he expected to come entered the room, unaware that he was already inside and carrying with her a book.

"Hey," she greeted, closing the door behind her, and walked to L who had been reading. "I see you're beginning to like this room."

"The composition in this room is very adequate. It's much like my room." L stared at her with his usual round black pupils. "Thank you for showing it to me."

She smiled. "It's no problem at all." She walked to the same heavy box and dragged it to a seat beside him who went back to silently reading the newspaper, helping her to sit up. Placing the book she was carrying on the table, she flipped to a page and started to read. Not long later, L got sight of what she was reading.

"You're not going to read today's paper?" he asked.

The girl shook her head. "I have some reading to catch up with."

It was not unusual to see a preschool-looking girl read a book but for L, Temi was an exception seeing that she was reading _'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd'_ , an Agatha Christie original thriller. Children her age did not usually read books like that but the girl was reading it anyway. A while later, she was softly humming a tune, an unfamiliar song while she was skimming.

Although his attention was focused on the news article, L could clearly hear her. He was not annoyed by the sounds she made but they rather made him curious.

"What are you singing?" the question popped out.

"It's just a lullaby. My mother used to sing it to me at nights when I can't sleep." Caught off guard, she slightly closed her book then turned to her companion. "I'm so sorry. I must have distracted you or something."

He hesitated. "No, no. It's… fine." Saying that, he turned back to face the newspaper and continued reading from where he left.

L always had a long attention span, but being diverted by someone humming a song felt uncanny for him, especially since it was just a little girl singing. Thinking about it, he felt sort of nice; it was like she was singing to him. L never remembered the last time his own mother sang him a song. Actually, he never remembered his own mother at all, how she looked like and how she looked after him. For him, she only existed in his mind but he knew well that she really did existed in reality. He just had no idea anymore; it was all a blur now. But upon hearing the little girl sing, he felt warmth. Since his first day at Wammy's, L had always been lonesome with Quillsh as the only one there to sympathize with him. For once in his life, being with another kid around his age made him feel a little less alone.

* * *

1:30 around noon. The black-haired boy went out from his room to the yard where the group was. Surprisingly, all of them were present this time around.

"Can I say something?" Clem excused himself then turned to an unusually present Temi. "You seem to have a slight change in schedule, Temi. I'm not saying this to tick you off but you seem to be a bit right on time. Is it because of what Ether said about you yesterday?"

"You meanie," she giggled. "Esme just sent me off earlier. It's no big deal, Clem."

Apologetic, Ether reached out to the girl and held her hands which were resting on her lap. "Temi, I'm so sorry for what I said yesterday." Her worried blue pupils staring to the girl in front of her. "That was so rude of me and I didn't know what I was thinking. I'm so sorry!"

The brunette knelt up, held the girl's hands and pulled her to her chest. "It's alright, Ether. I actually appreciate that you're so concerned of me being late all the time. Also, probably for being too pushy."

"But you're not pushy, you're just trying to point out what we didn't understand!" she sobbed.

"Ether," the red-head disrupted. "Nothing personal but stop being such a crybaby."

"Oh, come on, Roma. Ether's just sensitive, that's all." Understanding, the brunette ran her hand on the girl's long locks before letting her go. The red-head could just roll her eyes and sigh apathetically at the sight.

With the new face catching her eye, the French girl remembered that Temi had not been properly introduced to him the other day. "Hey, have you met the new kid?"

The black-haired girl turned to L and smiled. "Yeah, I suppose I have."

"Temi, this is Owl," Ether introduced, gesturing to L. "And Owl, this is Temi."

"'Owl'?" The smile on her face slowly diffused. "That's his name?"

Hesitating, Ether pulled on a lock of her platinum blonde hair and uneasily ran her hands on it as if to say _'Not exactly.'_

"That's just a nickname we gave him," Clem clarified. "Well, Ether and I did."

Temi scratched her temple. "But isn't that kind of offending?"

"I tried to tell them that." The red-head crossed her arms and explained matter-of-factly. "But Owl, rather the kid, said that it's fine for him to be called that way."

Thinking about the boy's situation more, the brunette sighed. "That makes sense." She looked at L somberly then faced Roma once more. "I don't have anything against you guys calling him 'Owl' but I certainly won't be calling him that."

Raising his head, L stared at the ponytailed brunette.

"You have your reasons, I suppose. Then I don't have a problem with that," Roma dismissed to which her comrades agreed.

Upon hearing what the brunette said, L could not help but be somewhat overwhelmed. He thought maybe it was just right that Temi did it. No one wanted to be called by a nickname someone else gave, especially since it was used to describe someone satirically. He did not mind them calling him that because that was not in any way his concern but he was just astounded to see someone defend him in her own way. The integrity Temi displayed somehow knocked him off his feet. No, what she displayed was not integrity; it was compassion he thought.

Time whizzed to past four o'clock. At that moment, Temi stood up from her seat and excused herself to leave. An hour and a half later, the meeting had ended and the clique dispersed afterwards. L marched straight to his room, firing up his computer. With thoughts racing in his mind, he started doing an elaborate research.

He looked up things about self-defense, concrete walls, enemy capture techniques and other topics that no kid ever had the interest to look up. It took up a lot of his time, never even bothering to take a rest, until the afternoon the very next day. He had skipped a meeting from the group just to continue his research. He was not even a full-pledged member so why did he even bother?

* * *

That midnight, Ether set off to the kitchen to get something to eat. It had been a bad habit of hers to wander out from her room to grab a late-night snack. Passing by the dining hall door, she was pounced from behind by someone. She struggled against the overpowering figure who gagged her with a handkerchief and had both her hands secured behind her. Her point of vision was bleary but from what she could feel, her pursuer was not a huge person. It felt like the perpetrator was also just a kid around her age. The stranger pinched her nape which rendered her unconscious, later dragging her away.

Slowly gaining her consciousness once more, the blonde woke up to find herself lying on a table, her hands and feet roped to all four corners of it. It was still difficult to for her to know what was happening but from she could make out, she was held in a room she had never been to before. Seeing all the scientific contraptions around scared her. Getting a view of her captor, she was aghast to see that it was a little boy, the black-haired boy who happened to be somehow a part of their group, the boy she called 'Owl'.

"What are you doing?!" she shouted at him. "Let me go!"

"Thankfully, the walls in this room have an extra drywall layer," he spoke calmly, walking closer and boosting himself on a seat beside her. "Therefore, no one can hear us."

"Are you insane?!" She tugged on the ropes that held her wrists in hopes that she could release herself but they were sturdy enough not to break despite her protests. "What are you going to do to me?!"

"I thought I would just freak you out if I casually interrogated you in public so I resorted to the quickest solution." He pulled on a box, taking out a cookie from it and held it close to her mouth. "Eat."

Ether writhed her face away, a pained expression written all over it, from L's offering hand despite her pangs of hunger. Tears lightly streamed from her baffled eyes. "Where am I?"

The brunet retracted the cookie from her and fed it to his own mouth. "We're in a classroom inside the library," he spoke with his mouth still full, later swallowing to clear his throat. "No one usually comes in here. But that aside-" He placed the box on the table. "I have some questions to ask you. Please cooperate and we'll be over as soon as possible." His voice was incredibly grave yet at the same time, he sounded somewhat bored.

The girl nodded bitterly. "Just get it over with."

"Alright then. Firstly-" L placed a thumb between his lips. "Why did you call me 'Owl'?"

"Because you look like an owl!" she sneered, her voice cracking from her dried-out windpipe.

His voice hardened. "And that's a good excuse why you would want your groupmates call me in the same way?"

"Hey, that's not my fault!" She jerked her limbs which were roped back as well. "Clem was the one who proposed that we should call you that. I only said that I wanted to but that didn't mean I wanted them to call you in the same way."

"Then why did you want to call me that?"

"As I said, because you look like one!"

"No," L rejected. "That reason is only secondary. You wanted to call me an owl not because I appear like one to you but also because you wanted to mock me. Now tell me, why do you want to mock me?"

"I didn't mean to and I'm sorry." Scarred, Ether broke down and cried. "I just thought it's my way to make up for the kids you hurt when you first arrived here. You were just new here then but you already gave a bad feeling when you kicked them away. All they wanted to do was welcome you but you rejected them. Clem told me all about it," she sniffled. "He was scared of you because you might hurt him again. How can you hurt people so easily?"

Understanding the situation more, L stood up and paced around the room. "I was not the one hurting people." He lifted his shirtsleeve up his arm to reveal a mark, a terrible bruise from a punch that had been plunged onto his pale skin some time ago. "Rather, I was the one being hurt. Those boys rough-housed me." He pulled down his sleeve back to where it was. "They tried to use violence against me, tried to show me who is boss. They thought I looked like someone they can push around because of the way I look, how I carry myself. They thought I was a weakling but I showed them otherwise." L noisily chewed onto his thumb. "So you acted without knowing the truth first. That wasn't very clever."

Reflecting, Ether tried to calm herself down. "I'm sorry, I had no idea. Now I know what actually happened but you know, you could have been cleverer too."

L narrowed his eyes to her, perplexed of her response. "How come?"

"Did you say sorry to them after what happened?"

"No, and neither did they."

"Because they were scared of you, idiot! They're scared that you might send them flying back to the infirmary. Dude, you should be more sensitive to other people's feelings!"

"Feelings?" Thinking, L gazed to the ceiling then turned back to face his captive. "They only fog up a person's sense of judgement so I try not to understand them more."

"By pushing people away?"

"I don't push people away. I dismiss them." L walked back to his seat. "Ever since the incident, I've heard nothing but negative comments about me being passed around. I don't want to make a scene so I just let them be. In the end, they're the ones who distanced themselves from me, but I don't really care."

"Why not?"

He walked back to his chair and propped himself on it. "Because they are futile, after all." Pulling out a sharp pair of scissors from another table, he cut a small knot of the bondage which held the blonde back, releasing her.

Sitting up, she freed herself from the binds that held her, soothing her aching wrists. "I-I'm free to go?" Her voice cracked once more.

"Yes. I've acquired more than enough information from you as you have from me. You have been very cooperative."

She glared at him with questioning eyes. "Does that mean I'm 'futile' to you now?"

"You have your own purpose in your very existence but yes-" L bit on his thumb. "You are of no use to me for now."

The blonde leapt off the table and started walking away, clutching herself by her arms. On her way to the door, L spoke, his back turned to her. "Please keep this rendezvous a secret. Telling other people about it will only make a fuss."

"You're a psycho for putting me through all of this." She tilted her head to L's direction. "But I'll try not to tell anyone. You know, you should have just approached me and talked to me like how a normal kid would. You didn't have to set me up for this crap."

"The probability of us talking is less than five percent if I used that approach. You've been avoiding me for quite some time so by using this method, that probability has been raised to ninety-five percent."

"I see." She shuddered, her hand touched her chin. "But what's the other five percent?"


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

Since the night of the incident, Ether had been trying hard to calm herself down, trying to find her composure all on her own. She had been scarred by what just happened to her, thinking that it could have been something that would put her life in grave danger. But it was not; it was just Owl she thought. The method was uncouth but from what he explained, it was the only reliable procedure just so he can get her attention. Nonetheless, she was still somehow shocked.

No one had ever done that to her. She thought no one had the nerve to do it to her but Owl did, and she never expected it. Despite all this, she was still glad. She was glad it was just Owl. She was glad it was just an interrogation. She was glad she was still breathing air. Additionally, the incident helped open her mind; it helped her realize the boy's side of things. Because of him, she would never look at him the same again. She could only hope that despite all this, she could still carry herself around like nothing ever happened. She could only hope.

Friday morning came. The blonde had attended the group on her usual time with the usual look on her face. Roma had been doubting though. She knew she was not supposed to pry into things like these but there was something she could sense from Ether. The red-head could tell the tiniest bit of distress on her companion though no one else could see it. She hid this fact from her comrades but as their leader and as her own person, she knew well enough just what it was and what she was supposed to do about it.

L had just come out from hiding, his room down to the library. Passing by the door to the lounge, a kid seized him from behind similar to what he did to Ether, his arms pressed against his back, his face to the floor, his captor's weight sitting behind him. He could not tell who this person was but he smelled something. A familiar cologne, a cologne that misted the fragrant yet soft scent of roses. It was a mature-smelling fragrance but then he had smelt it from before. There was only one person he knew who would wear such a captivating scent. Despite trying to stop himself, he could only smile faintly when he felt a bit of déjà vu. This time, he was the one being brought down although he had a clear idea of who his captor was.

"Did she tell you anything?" he asked.

"Not a thing," spoke the familiar calming voice from behind him, the small Russian accent lingering in it. "I didn't even ask her anything but still-" She tugged on one of his limbs which made him gasp in pain. "I want to know what you did to Ether."

"Roma," he grumbled. "I just asked a little of her time… So I can ask her some questions."

"Are these questions important?"

"More important than the fact that I am hurting right now."

"Listen." She leaned to him, her face near his, close enough for her to whisper. "I may be doing this for Ether, or I may be not. It's bad to pounce on a girl just so you can interrogate her but you know, I don't even mind that at all. In fact, I'm actually quite impressed that you've thought of going to such lengths. You have no idea how please I am."

The little boy tilted his head to Roma, bewildered by her response. _'Is this a confession?'_

The red-head smiled. She knew about the incident the black-haired lad got into. She knew it was him who caused all the ruckus from before and she was unexplainably astounded. The red-haired girl always had a penchant for trouble and this made her want to know more about him.

She tucked back strands of red hair to the back of her ear before they could fall back on her cheeks. "Call me sick or whatever but really, I'm fascinated. To be honest, I might actually become very fond of you. I didn't want to do this to you but you know what they say, an eye for an eye."

Getting impatient, L could not stand being put down any longer. "I see."

He hooked his leg and kicked his captor from behind, like a scorpion inflicting its sting, sending her plummeting to the floor just in front of him. Brushing himself up, L stood up and straightened himself. "You should have known better not to pounce on me," he severely said before walking away from the scene.

Muzzily, the girl stood up, rubbing her mouth with the back of her hand, her mischievous smirk still on her lips. "Please don't tell Ether anything about this."

The brunet paused. "I won't say a word to anyone," he replied, continuing his way to his destination.

* * *

With a newspaper in between his fingers, the little boy entered the library classroom to see the same black-haired girl sitting on a stool, arms crossed on the table and casually reading a book.

"Good morning," she greeted.

He closed the door, not bothering to lock it from the inside, and walked to a seat beside her. It was the room where the incident happened, but the thought of it never made L feel restless unlike it did to Ether. He was indifferent as it may not have been the first time L did anything like that to anyone.

"I see you're reading the same book from yesterday," he remarked as he unfolded out the newspaper.

Temi nodded. "I'm about finished with it. It's actually a pretty good book." The brunet propped himself on a seat beside her and placed an open newspaper on the table. "So, is it true?"

"What is?"

The girl closed her book and faced L. Her voice had a hint of concern. "That you kicked Clem and his buddies when you first got here?"

"Yes, but the past is in the past," he sulked, his eyes fixed on the printed text, trying to look away from her. "I know it might have given you a bad impression of me…"

"Not at all." She flashed him a sad smile. "They intimidated you, didn't they?"

L nodded, hung his head and stared somberly to the floor. "They were hurting me and I thought that was the best way I could show them that I'm not someone they should mess with."

Temi stepped up from her chair and climbed her way to the table, crawling to her companion. She sat up and ran her hand through his dark messed-up locks, comforting him. She was surprised that his hair was softer than it looked. It was silky, not quite what she was expecting. She always thought it was coarse since it looked like it had been blown away violently by the wind, but it was not. Despite her touches, the boy could only look at her with confused eyes, unaccustomed to such warm gestures.

"I'm sorry that happened," she consoled.

"It's alright," he answered. "It's a natural response after all."

Her hands slipped off his tresses. "Ether told me about it this morning," she informed.

The little boy stared at her, distraught by what she just said.

"It's alright. She said I'm the only one she could trust this to. She swore that she wouldn't tell anyone else but I guess she just couldn't hold it in."

"I see." L placed a thumb on his lip, thinking. "The way I interrogated her might have been too much for her. She _is_ quite sensitive."

The brunette smiled. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

L placed both his hands on his knees, thinking of what greeted him first thing in the morning. "Roma thought of doing the same thing to me."

"She did? What did she say?"

He breathed deeply. "She said she was impressed by what I did."

"What?" Her body leapt, her face tilted slightly away from the kid in front of her. Temi was stunned to know that the red-head she knew was not all that she thought she was. The little girl she met since her first day at Wammy's, the little girl named Roma who had been like a sister to her. She always knew the girl had a thing for trouble but had tried to keep it all inside. Still, she could not help but be staggered.

She faced the little boy once more who had been trying his best not to smile at her reaction, his unreadable expression right in front of her. In the end, she just softly laughed back. "That teaser. I knew she liked trouble all this time."

"Nevertheless, she did it to somehow pay back what I did to Ether, but she also said it was to compliment me. I have no idea why she wanted to do it but what you said must be true. She must have liked trouble all this time."

Just as the tension in the room was fading away, the door opened and a distinguished old man went inside. The man around the same age as Quillsh was just astonished to find two tykes making use of the usually deserted room.

"Mr. Wilkes!" Temi called out gladly to the figure.

"Why hello, my little magpie," the man greeted and walked to the table where she had been sitting on. "It's been a while since I last saw you!"

The little girl crawled to where he was and gave him a warm embrace. The boy could only observe their reunion, the two had apparently met before.

"You visited," she cheerily said.

The man nodded, held the girl by the waist and propped her back to her seat. "Quillsh invited me this morning for some tea. Afterwards, I excused myself to visit this nostalgic room, so here I am. By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Mr. Wammy showed this room to me so I can read without disturbing other people."

"I see. Quillsh might have thought this is the best place for you to study then." He peered to the girl's left, seeing an unfamiliar little boy behind her. "A new friend?" he thought then recalled who the black-haired boy was. "Aren't you that little boy Quillsh had been talking to me about? The one helping him with his investments?"

"Yes, I am."

"Then you must be one smart kid." He then raised a hand to the child, offering a handshake. "I'm Sander Wilkes, one of Quillsh's colleagues. Pleased to meet you."

L took his hand and gave it a steady shake. "It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Wilkes."

Gazing at the reading materials placed on the table, the old man spoke. "You two have been quite busy, I presume." He then turned his sights to a solution written on the chalkboard, seeing that it had been edited with a couple of mistakes. "Hold on."

He walked closer to the board and erased a couple of lines. He picked up a piece of chalk and started correcting it. L observed the writings before it came to his mind what they actually were.

"DQE," the boy recalled.

The little girl turned to him. "You know it?"

"Detective quantum efficiency, as it is called. An algorithm used to measure an imaging system's performance. It's basically used to describe how well the device can produce images through the measure of its quantum."

"That's actually correct." Sander placed the chalk back and scratched the back of his head with his other hand, thinking how silly it might appear to be in a room with an intellectual who was younger than he was, way younger. "I can tell you've been researching quite a lot."

"The eyes are useless when the mind is blind," L blindly quoted.

"I have so much to feed your minds then. How about I show you two some number theories?" the old man proposed. Sander had never felt more gauche yet enthusiastic all his life knowing that his listeners where a couple of intellectual kids. An hour later, they were done discussing about Fibonacci numbers, prime factorization and perfect numbers. They were well on discussing cryptology-specifically, the Vigenère Cipher-when the orphanage's founder himself stepped inside the room.

"Ah, Sander. Just right where I expected you would be," the founder spoke, interrupting the discussion.

"Yeah," Sander replied. "I'm just having a little scholarly lecture with my two young mates here."

Quillsh peered to the two youngsters and smiled. "And you're doing an excellent job at that. I just came to remind you that it's eleven minutes short of twelve o'clock noon, but you can join us for lunch if you want to."

"I'd be glad to, Quillsh, but I can't," he declined. "I still have so much paperwork to do in my place."

"Ah, the patents, I suppose."

"Yes." Sander smiled tiredly. "You have been making me a busier man at the moment."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, my old friend."

"Quillsh, there's nothing for you to be sorry about," he comfortingly replied. "As your co-worker, it is my duty to give my share of the work. Now, if you'll excuse me-" He gave the tykes light pats on their heads. "I think I should be on my way."

"Bye, Mr. Wilkes," the girl waved.

"Drop by again soon," Quillsh bid.

The co-inventor waved back and left. Afterwards, Quillsh turned to the kids, kneeling in front of them. "And I think it's about time you two have a good energy replenishment. The body needs food to function well after all."

The little boy then held onto Quillsh's hand as they left the room. Temi nodded one last time to her companions before making her way to the dining hall. L, having observed her earlier, started waving good bye to her as she did.

* * *

The next day, that Saturday afternoon. L, who stayed in his room for the rest of the previous day, was standing in the story-telling classroom beside the window he usually peered out from. His hands placed in his jeans pockets, he observed the children surrounding the orphanage.

' _I still don't understand why they chose to play when there's so much more interesting activities they can do,'_ he thought.

A while later, Ventose had entered the room, walking to his black-haired companion upon seeing him there.

"Hey," the beanie boy began. "You didn't come to the convo yesterday."

L, looking out to the window, deeply breathed. "I could use a break. All the excitement is starting to wear me out."

"You're amused?" he wondered, placing his hands in his pockets and looking out to the same window. "I don't know. I'm sort of getting bored."

With the same reaction, the brunet turned to his companion. "You're getting bored?"

"Aye," he sighed in desperation. Ventose, someone who was silent most of the time, almost always looked like the common bored introvert who only spoke when he was needed to. But when it did come for his turn to speak, he spoke with the most intelligible things he could come up with from the topic being discussed. He was smarter than he looked. With this, it made it look like his slacker appearance was just a façade for the bright ideas brewing within him. He was much similar to L, only a little bit more accommodating, social. "I thought that by joining their group, I could finally see some enthusiasm that would interest me." He stretched his arms lowly to his sides and sighed once more. "But seeing that nothing exciting ever happens to us, I guess it was all just a waste of time."

"Wait," L intervened. "Are you thinking about leaving the group?"

"Well, I was thinking about it. Roma did say she would care less even if any of us left the group. But then, there isn't anything great that ever happens to me so why do I even bother." His voice sounded more jaded than it ever was.

Pondering, L looked out to the window once more. Far from Roma's group and random children playing around, he could clearly see a familiar figure sitting at a distance far from them. It was Temi, or so he thought, but there was no one else in the orphanage who would wear a long-sleeved button-up shirt like hers. He could tell it was her even though she was a few meters away. He had been accustomed to how the girl carried herself around that he never even gave a doubt that it was her. Her legs folded to her left as always, she seemed to be playing with ragdolls, a peculiar sight especially since she was playing all by herself. Moreover, _'She is playing with dolls,'_ he thought. _'She doesn't usually play with dolls.'_

"Temi is playing with dolls," reported L to which his companion just nodded back to. "She's also playing alone. Should we join her?"

The beanie boy hesitated. "I know she's been playing with the dolls for several months now but I don't think we should get ourselves into things like that, bud."

"Why not?"

"Dolls, dude," Ventose explained briefly but straight to the point. "They're playthings for girls. I'll be darned if ever I'm caught playing with those girly things."

"It won't be that bad." L then pinched on the sleeve his companion's green shirt and started walking out the room, pulling the young boy with him despite his protests. "Besides, you were looking for enthusiasm, weren't you? This should be as good as it gets."

As promised, the two went to where the ponytailed brunette was. She was talking to one of the dolls that were seated beside her like it was some important meeting.

"Morning," the beanie boy greeted timidly who sat beside her, his black-haired companion perched beside him.

"Good morning, Ventose," she spoke with her usual warm smile. "I didn't expect you two would be joining us."

The boy questioningly looked around to see three dolls and just two human kids sitting with him. "Um, Temi-by us, I presume you meant the dolls you're playing with," he spoke uneasily.

"Ventose, playing with dolls means dishing out a huge part of your imagination. You could at least have the smallest amount of imagination in you. Come on, play along with me."

He sighed nervously. "I'll try. So how do you play?"

"Firstly, I want you both to meet Rosencrantz." She pointed to one of the dolls. "He is very fascinated about the kids here in Wammy's."

"Oh, yeah?"

She held the doll and moved it like it was the one that was speaking. "Despite the somewhat cold treatment you give to people, deep inside, you're a warm-hearted person who is really fond of animals."

Ventose stuttered and his cheeks started to flush red. For Ventose, it had been his warm side for animals that gave him the long-lasting impression of being a softy to other children. It was attention he did not want so he never let them to know about this interest. He had to keep his dignity after all.

"Um-so what if I am?"

Temi placed the doll down and took another one. "This is Gyldenstierne and he has something to tell you." She placed doll on her lap and started to move it like a puppeteer. "When you're all grown up, you will most likely become a veterinarian."

Infuriated, his face blushed even more. "Stop it, doll!" He pulled the toy by its shirt, raising it in the air as if he was about to punch it like a real human being.

"What's wrong about liking animals?" she pacified, taking back the doll and placing it back to where it was.

The beanie boy grumbled, trying to calm himself down. "You didn't have to use me as an example just to show how capable your dolls are."

"But the dolls didn't know anything about you, and they're just dolls." She smiled sassily. "I'm the one who knew about all that and I just thought that with using the dolls, I can help whet your imagination." She giggled. "So you have imagination, after all."

Displeased by her comment, the beanie boy crossed his arms. Seeing his irritation, the little girl crawled to his back and threw her arms on his shoulder, apologizing to him. "Oh, come on, Ventose. So what if you want to become a veterinarian? I don't mind. I think it suits you."

The boy looked at her sullenly, thinking about whether what she said was a compliment or not. "Is that supposed to encourage me?"

"You know right it is." She pinched him softly on the neck. "If that's what runs your gears, then I say you should go for it."

"I agree," L interrupted. "In my defense, being a veterinarian would be a trivial job because of the meticulous studying of thousands of unbiased medicinal terms plus the countless species of animals and body parts that need to be considered, but that's just me being me," he said monotonously, patting his comrade's back. "We all have our own aspirations and I think I have the right to respect yours."

"That's supposed to make me feel better." The beanie boy turned to L whose black pupils had been staring at him all this time. "Right?"

"Absolutely."

Ventose looked around to see one last doll left unintroduced, picking it up. "And who's this? Hamlet?"

"No, silly." Temi held the doll up in front of him. "This is Horatio."

"It figures. Does he have anything to say to me then?"

"Not that much, but he just wants you to know that whatever goals you want to achieve, he'll be there to support you all the way." She went between him and L and placed an arm on the latter's shoulders. "Just like buddy and me."

The beanie boy took the doll with a warm smile on his face and held it on his lap. "Thanks, Horatio."

* * *

"I just can't subscribe to that," spoke Ventose while fiddling with one of Temi's dolls. "I know it's best to stand out to society as an independent individual. In fact, that is completely admirable, a positive reinforcement to society, yes but one day, you'll just start to think how lonely you really are, spending your life in solitude. Then you'll start to wonder why you would even bother taking on this life alone."

"What do you suppose should be done about it?" L asked, a thumb on his mouth.

"I'm thinking maybe I should get married one day."

"Ventose," interrupted the brunette while he was in his daydream. "I know you're probably years older than me but I think it's way too early to think about that."

"Wait-" he stumbled to her. "How old exactly are you, Temi?"

"I'm just turning seven on November."

He agreed uneasily. "Maybe you are too young for things like these, but I suppose I should let you know how I really feel about the anxiety of what is yet to come."

"The unknown-" L breathed. "It's something random yet at the same time predictable."

"Huh?"

"If you can see clearly, one event will give birth to another. Therefore, it can be quite easy to predict what is going to happen next." The boy's toes scratched each other. "Adolf Hitler considered his military experience in the World War I as one of the most influential events in his life and it was what brought him to pursue a distinguished political career. Combined with his ideology caused by a tragic childhood, I am sure you already know what would happen eventually."

"World War II," Temi acknowledged.

The beanie boy pondered about the paradoxical image that was placed in his mind. "But knowing that you can predict what is yet to come, won't that make life boring?"

"As I said, the unknown is random. It would still be difficult to tell what is going to happen next, making life a complete contradiction to itself."

"You do have a point there." Ventose stroked his chin, impressed by the lad's explanation. "In time, who knows? Maybe I might get married to Temi in the end."

She laughed and pushed the boy away jokingly. "Very funny."

Peering to the orphanage clock, they had quite a good conversation going that the brunette almost forgot an appointment she was supposed to go to.

"I just remembered something important I have to do," she spoke, standing up from where she was sitting. "I'm sorry but I really have to excuse myself."

"You're always running off at this time of day," an irritated Ventose remarked. "Where on earth do you even go to that is way more important than our chats?"

"I'd be glad to let you know but I'd rather keep you guessing," she said before walking away.

"And she's leaving us with all these dolls?!" he asked mockingly, holding out a doll distastefully in the air.

"If you want to, we can continue with our conversation." L held out another doll, his index finger and thumb gripping its hand. "I think Rosencrantz has something to say."

"Buddy-" Perturbed, Ventose took the doll away from the black-haired boy's fingers and set it down. "I think we can continue our discussion sans the dolls."

"I suppose you're right." He hooked his index finger on his bottom lip. "But as far as I'm concerned, I'm just wondering where Temi had been going off to."

"Even I have no answer to that, bud," spoke Ventose. "No one knows where she's been going off to. As you have said it, my friend-" He pointed his hand out to the direction where the little girl went. "The unknown."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

* * *

21st of April 1991, a Sunday morning. It only meant one thing: church service. The clock struck nine o'clock and children have been coming out from the chapel beside The Wammy's House. Looking to the bell tower, L could not seem to think but be mesmerized by the chimes of the bells lingering in his ears. Ever since he had arrived in Wammy's, this had been a bad habit of his every Sunday. He would face to where the bell tower was and stand in complete silence while listening to its solemn sounds. He hated how the bells sounded but there was something about them to him. He never knew what it was but to him, it was something that gave him a sense of peace.

Coming from the outside, L walked to the library classroom and found his brunette companion inside. He saw that she was reading a different book, this time it was _'The Key to Rebecca'_ by Ken Follett, a historical fiction but a similar thriller.

Curious, he sat beside her. "You've been reading a different book I see."

She nodded. "You mentioned something about Adolf Hitler yesterday so I thought I should get something related to that. It sort of fascinated me."

L placed a thumb on his lips. "You're already done with the previous one?"

"Almost." She gave a familiar smile. "I just thought I should try skimming this since I'm almost finished with _'The Murder'_."

"I see." L peered to the book later turning his stare back to Temi. "You're very fascinated with books, aren't you?" he commented.

"I really am," she replied. "There's just something about books that whisks me away to a place that only I can see in my mind. I know that I'm not allowed to go outside Wammy's until I'm older so I resort to reading books. It's like I'm already travelling even if I'm only in one place."

He continued querying her, unsure of why he was doing so. "You like to travel?"

"Oh, yeah." She placed an elbow on the table and placed her head on her hand, staring dreamily to the ceiling. "When I grow up, I want to go places that were mentioned in the books I've read just to see what they really look like, to see things I've never seen before."

"That's a very capricious dream," he deadpanned. "But as I said yesterday, I respect your aspirations."

"Thank you." She then closed the book and faced L. "How about you? What do you want to be when you're all grown up?"

He chewed noisily onto his thumb, immersed in deep thought. His eyebrows furrowed. "I still haven't figured that out yet."

"But you're a very smart kid. I'm pretty sure there's a lot that you can be."

"The thought of it is encouraging but at the same time, it's impractical," he said, turning down the thought. "No one wants to be a doctor, a scientist and a lawyer simultaneously."

She snickered. "I mean there's probably that one thing you will put all your strength to just so you can achieve it."

"There is," he said matter-of-factly. "I just don't know what it is yet."

"I see."

Deciding to change the topic, L asked. "When is your birthday?"

"November 30." She smiled at him interestedly. "I'm turning seven. How about you?"

"On October 31. I'm turning nine this year."

"I guess our birthdays aren't so far from each other, huh?"

"Yes, but I'm practically two years older than you."

"Yeah," she sighed, opening the book she held once more. Once she had started reading, the little boy scooted nearer and peered to the book she held. It was not long when she noticed that he was reading along, his neck craned to get a better view of it. "You want to read with me?"

"I suppose…"

"You're leaning too close, bud," she giggled. Seeing that the boy was engrossed to her book, she thought he might get uncomfortable then fall off his chair for leaning too much.

"Wait-" She snapped her fingers at the thought. "I know where we can read at ease." She closed the book and skidded off of her stool.

She then started walking out the room, with her companion trailing right behind her. They went to the kitchen and straight to the backdoor. Opening the door, a holly oak could be seen at a distance. The pair went to the tree and sat under its cool shade.

"At this rate, I won't have to worry about you being uncomfortable with your seat." She opened the book and flipped to where they last left. "You may have missed a couple of important details so you might as well ask on the way and I'll try to explain the best I can," she said earnestly.

"That's very nice of you," replied L who was in the most comfortable crouch he could make, his bare feet cushioned by the softness of summer grass.

Their reading was cut when the clock struck twelve o'clock, lunchtime. The two had to go their separate ways for a break to eat their meals before returning to where they were, sitting under the tree's shade while reading and exchanging ideas from what they've read, learning more from each other little by little.

Time flew by; it was almost three o'clock in the afternoon. It was time for the Sunday three o'clock prayer. Slowly, the familiar sound of Sunday bells filled the air. L paused from reading and started to hear them. He stood up to listen, his eyes widening upon realizing what they were.

Puzzled by his reaction, Temi asked. "What is it?"

His face had a blank yet grave expression all over it. "Do you hear them?"

The little girl stood next to him and listened closely. "I hear the bells."

"Let's go to the chapel. I want to hear them closer."

He took her by the wrist and walked around the orphanage to where the chapel was, tugging her behind him. The pair stood silently beside it as the solemn bells filled their ears with melody, L's right hand still holding onto her left. Soon, the bells have slowly ceased ringing and his hold on her loosened, his hand sliding off hers. The quizzical brunette glanced to her companion who was still staring at the bell tower, still mesmerized by its sound.

"Are you alright?" she asked when the ringing can no longer be heard.

Going back to his senses, he answered. "I'm fine."

"I didn't know the bells meant so much to you."

The little boy pressed a thumb on his lip, staring somberly onto the earth. "I'm sorry. There's just something about the bells that seem to get me."

Trying to understand him, Temi held his hand, her cheek pressed on his arm and stared at the bell tower with him. L, who was not accustomed to such warm gestures, could only stay silent. Nobody had been this close to him (literally and probably figuratively) but the sentiment of someone being there to listen with him was something he had never experienced before. He always listened to the bells alone and he knew how lonesome it could be. But being with someone to listen with him made him feel lighter. He was confused; his mind could not comprehend what she was doing, what he was feeling. But somehow, he knew it felt nice.

* * *

The next morning, story-telling had just ended and all the tykes have left the room, leaving L behind who appeared to be playing a game of chess all by himself. Observing the lonesome little boy, Quillsh Wammy walked to him. "It's been about four months since you first arrived here, L."

"Yes," the brunet answered who never bothered to lift his eyes from what he was doing.

"I'm pretty sure you've already met a couple of friends."

"Friends?" He scratched his temple. "I've met some kids who can tolerate me. Does that fit the description of a 'friend'?" He spitted out the word like it was something out of his vocabulary.

"It depends" Quillsh hesitated. "Of course, you should be able to tolerate them as well."

"In that case, I'm having mixed judgements about this."

He placed down a white bishop three tiles diagonal from the black king whose north escape tiles were anticipated by an opposing rook and the rest of his escape tiles by the white queen and a white knight, signifying a checkmate. "To be honest, I could really care less," he said bluntly.

Quillsh gave a concerned smile. "Come with me, my child." Having said that, the old man walked to a nearby window as his young companion followed. "Look at all the children outside and what can you say?"

L peered out to the window to see clusters of children playing around, frolicking in absolute randomness. "I say that they are boring."

"And why do you think that?"

L hooked an index finger on his bottom lip. "Because they're people. Ordinary people with their own ordinary aspirations. I can't imagine myself being a part of their lives given that they hardly even know who I am."

"But have you considered yourself an ordinary person like they are?"

"I, too, am an ordinary person, Mr. Wammy, at least in their perspective. That also means that they can't see themselves having roles in my aspirations," the boy explained.

"Now, think about these people you say who can tolerate you. What can you say?"

L hung his head in deep thought. "They are somewhat interesting at one point."

"Why do you think so?"

"Because they have a way of thinking that one-way matches with mine."

Contented, the old man smiled at the boy's answer. "Finally, what makes these people different from the others?"

"They know how to tolerate me."

"L, look outside," Quillsh spoke facing the window. "The children outside are just the same as those who interest you, the same as you. If you think of it this way, you can see that they can also be just as interesting. Interest is not about tolerance, young one. It's about seeing things in a different perspective. They don't have to be tolerant of you to make them interesting. You just have to think that somehow, even if they can't stand being with you, they still have the potential to be interesting. Do you understand?"

L hung his head. "I understand, but I don't understand where our conversation is going to."

"You'll understand it in time, child," the old man smiled. "I give you this to you as your homework."

Looking out to the window, L saw the same black-haired Temi playing with her dolls. Not far from her was a younger boy running by her spot who tripped when his foot got caught in tangled grass, grazing his knee. The young lad wailed when he felt the stinging sensation eating up his wound. Seeing the poor child, Temi stood up from her seat, pulled out a white handkerchief from her skirt pocket and placed it on the sore abrasion, soaking up tiny patches of blood. Smiling comfortingly, she ran her thumbs on his cheeks to wipe away his tears and, noticing that it had stopped bleeding, planted a small kiss on the knee, ceasing the boy from crying. After a few consoling words, she stood up and lifted the boy, placing the arm of his wounded side on her shoulder. The boy smiled faintly and the two tottered to the main door.

All the while, Quillsh had been observing the whole thing. "From what I know, Temi doesn't really care if someone tolerates her or not, but that's the beauty of it," the man observed, smiling at the thought. "That way of thinking is impartial to anyone's favor. However, there's also a drawback."

Realizing the irony of what Quillsh just said, L was astounded. "What is it?"

Although he knew the answer to the boy's question, the old man could just smile. "You'll figure that out by yourself." With the brunette and her young companion coming to the main hall, Quillsh stepped back from the window. "I suppose I should be preparing the first aid kit now." At that instant, he left and went to where the two tykes were.

L left the room and went to the shade-giving holly oak tree and sat under it, his thumb placed on his mouth. Slowly, he had figured it out, biting the back of his bottom lip at the thought. With Temi being impartial, no one could tell if she genuinely was interested in anyone, if she could really be relied on.

Recalling all the things she had done for him, L could only wonder about what Quillsh made him ponder about. If Temi genuinely cared, would she have done the same things? And if she did not, did that mean she would not have done anything less?

Thinking about this, it made him feel uncomfortable. For L, understanding people was one of the greatest puzzles he can never quite figure out. Each person was a puzzle of his own nonetheless, but thinking about it more made the boy feel irritable. For him, there were just things in this world that should not even be pondered about, that it would be just a waste of time and energy when there were so much better things that should be done. But because of what Quillsh just mentioned, he could not help but doubt. He had been thinking about Ventose's reason for wanting to leave the group in the first place (but had apparently changed his mind). He had been thinking that maybe it was a bad idea to be around people whom he had never trusted at all. All that time, he had been thinking.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

* * *

L had been doing plenty of research that night. All of L's research depended on what he wanted to. Every night since he first got his personal computer, he stayed up late doing countless studies that he could get his hands on, adding up to the number of hours he lacked of sleep from days before, making his eye bags darker than ever. L had slept only a meager average of four hours a day, making him a chronic insomniac since no one knows when. But L did not mind nor care. He was L anyway. For him, it did not matter. As long as you had something good going on in your brain, how you carried yourself was not a matter of importance for him.

He had still been thinking of what the founder told him the other day. He knew well that he could never trust anybody so easily. Not even Roma's group was an exception. But something has been eating him up lately. He could not quite figure Temi out. The girl always had been kind to him and to the others. He was touched yet at the same time suspicious.

' _If she was this kind, does that mean that she trusts me?'_ he thought. _'And if she does, does that mean I could trust her back?'_

The morning after, he went to the usual library classroom. It was empty. He closed the door and waited for a while until he realized his companion was not be coming in. He then went to where the holly oak was and saw her there, reading a book under its shade. Walking to the tree, he took a seat beside her.

"I thought you would be here since you didn't go to the classroom," he spoke.

The girl smiled faintly at him. "Good morning. I just thought it would be a good change of pace for once in a while," she greeted before going back to her reading.

L's toes scratched each other uneasily, unsure of how to start what he had been meaning to say. "Temi-"

"What is it?"

' _I know this might offend her in a way but here goes nothing,'_ he decided, trying to build up the momentum to bring out the question he had in his mind. "How certain am I that I can trust you?" he asked. He then placed a thumb on his bottom lip and began studying her.

Weighing the severity of his question, Temi placed the book on her lap. At that moment, she knew the discussion was going to be a bit serious. "How much do you think?"

The little boy chewed heavily on his thumbnail. "On the day we first properly met, I eventually concluded that the probability was around three percent seeing that I just met you and we barely knew each other. However, with each passing day, that three percent increased with each kindness you have shown me making it around sixty percent until this week's Sunday. However, it occurred to my mind that it is possible that you can't be trusted at all so tell me, how certain am I that I can trust you?"

Laying out his question in her mind, Temi could not help but notice a pattern that led to her finding out the answer. She looked at him impassively. "Liar."

"Care to explain?"

"From your question, you said you initially gave me three percent of your trust on the first day we met and that increased until this Sunday. We met on a Tuesday, and a day can only be called a day after twenty-four hours, so that three percent was concluded on a Wednesday. There are five days from Wednesday to Sunday. In five days, you mentioned that your trust have made it around sixty percent. Your clues are in the numbers three, five, and sixty. Putting these three numbers in relation to each other results in a factorial, that is, sixty is the product of the first three factors of the five factorial. Basically, five times four times three equals sixty."

"Amazing," L applauded. He did not expected she would catch up this fast. "But you haven't answered my question."

"Simple." She smiled, raising her hand and formed a number zero. "Zero percent. You never trusted me at all."

Feeling accomplished, the boy reached out to her and gave her a small light cuddle, a blank expression written on his face all the while. Confused, all Temi could do was stare at him, trying to keep her composure despite the gawkiness she could feel. The boy then let her go and sat back on his feet.

She looked at him quizzically, still not taking in what was going on. "I don't understand. What was that all about?"

"I thought I should let you know that I'm someone who has trust issues," he said flatly, placing both of his hands on his knees. "I already put that in layman's terms for you."

"Yeah, well, I understand but what does this have to do with me?"

"Please don't misinterpret that I'm saying this because I already trust you in a high percentage. I find it difficult to put my trust in other people," he explained. "I simply want to see how well you will react to it."

Temi sighed, a smile still on her face. "Bud, even if you don't trust me, it's completely okay," she reassured. "I don't mind. I could really care less if people trusted me or not."

"Then how will you know if you can rely on anybody?"

"I don't," she shrugged. "There isn't anyone I actually rely on but know this. Just because I don't trust anybody that doesn't mean they can't trust me back. It's up to them if they want to trust me or not. They have free will but if ever they did want to trust me, I'd rather be caught dead wearing Roma's cologne than to let them down." She could sense her companion trying to hold back his quiet snickering. "Trust is the first thing Mr. Wammy presented to me on the very first day I came here so that's one heck of a very important thing for me. I didn't mean to swear but it really is."

"I see." Finally attaining the answer to his question, the little boy felt a smile curve on his lips but was clever enough to hold it in. "So, can we read?"

* * *

That afternoon, the pair had been reading the same book since lunchtime ended. An hour and a half later, L interrupted. He placed a hand on his stomach and felt it rasping. He felt the sudden huge urge for food.

Temi closed the book, placing it on her lap. "Hungry?"

"Let's go inside. I want cookies," he said, standing up and walking to the kitchen back door, his black-haired companion trailing right behind him. Upon entering the room, the two set their sights on the several cookie jars placed on top of the counter each containing a different kind of confectionary. The little girl pulled a high stool and set it next to where the jars were. She gestured him to climb up but he declined. "Would you mind if you get them for me?"

She stared at him jokingly at first. It did not take long before she permitted his request. "Oh, alright," she sighed, placing her book on the stool. "Help me up."

L grabbed her by the waist and yanked her on the chair. Once she was up, she started inching to the counter top, opening the first jar on the row and taking out a confection.

"How's this?" she asked, dropping the pastry to her companion's receiving hands.

Biting on it, the boy gave a dissatisfied look on his face. "Not quite. Try the next one."

She closed the jar and opened the one next to it. Taking another cookie out, she gave it to him who shook his head at the sour taste of raisins. The brunette closed the jar and opened the third one. She took out a sample and dropped it to the little boy once more. This time, L nodded and gave it a thumbs up. She then secured the lid on the jar, taking it along with her. She went back to the stool and handed the jar to her companion.

The boy placed it on the floor to free his hands of anything seeing that the little girl was having a hard time climbing down. Just as Temi had lost her grip, L rushed to catch her, her face and hands landing on his chest. She opened her tightly shut eyes only to see the little boy's arms wrapped around her, embracing her tightly. She lifted her head and their faces met. Feeling a bit uneasy, she just gave him an awkward smile before stepping back, reaching for the jar then handing it to him. Upon receiving it in his hands, L started to walk to the dining hall. However, noticing that his companion was not behind him, he paused and turned around to see her setting aside the stool she had used, her book in hand.

"Temi," he called out to her.

She turned her head to him. "What is it?"

Wordless, L could only look at the cookie jar in front of him.

The little girl could just smile at her friend's speechlessness. "Just tell me."

He raised his head to her. "Aren't you going to share these with me?"

The brunette walked to where he was and nodded, patting him on the shoulder. The pair went to the empty dining hall onto the two nearest seats they could see. Placing the cookie jar on the table, the boy pulled out a chair and sat on it in his usual uncanny crouch.

Stumped by his appearance, Temi observed him like she was looking at a strange animal for the first time in her life. The boy noticed her perplexed gaze before she turned away and pulled out a seat of her own.

"Is there something wrong?" he queried.

"It's nothing." She propped herself on the chair, placing her book on the table. "It's just I noticed you're always sitting like that."

"I see." He stuck a thumb on his lips. "Sitting like this helps maintain my reasoning ability."

"And you have very dark bags under your eyes," she observed. "Do you ever sleep?"

"I sleep from time to time," he said flatly.

"But not often I guess."

L shook his head. "Not at all."

Taking off the jar's lid, he pulled out a pastry and handed this to Temi and took out another for himself. He then began munching on his biscuit noisily. L always was a scruffy eater. He did not care about the people around him nor what they think of his eating habits as long as he could get to enjoy his meals in peace.

"You always eat sweets I see," she deducted once more. "Does your stomach ever hurt?"

"No," L said upon swallowing the contents in his mouth, another biscuit in between his two fingers. "I know diabetes is an obtainable disease but knowing that the brain needs glucose to function properly, I might need to eat as much sugary foods as I can since my body is utilizing them anyway."

"It figures. But you also happen to be quite thin for someone who only eats sweet foods."

"I happen to maintain this form because of all my mental work. Accompanying this is a little bit of physical activity," he explained then placed another confection in his mouth.

"Oh?" She placed her unbitten cookie on the table as well as her elbows, her face resting on her hands as she listened interestedly. "What games do you play?"

"I never play sports but I do practice some self-defense that I research on."

"And that's enough for you?"

"I'm quite a lazy person, Temi, so just a little time to stretch myself is already enough."

"You know what? When you're all done, just let me bring this book to my room and we'll play tag."

"Tag? Isn't that a game that involves running around and chasing people?"

"Yeah!" She sat up, pointing a finger to the boy. "So don't get yourself too comfy with those creampuffs, creampuff."

"It's tempting," he replied in his bored tone of voice. "But there's no way I'll be playing those kinds of games."

"Oh, come on," she urged. "At least try it just for once."

L sighed. _'I was expecting that she would eventually invite me to play one of those terrible games,'_ he thought. _'But if I just keep on refusing, she would just nag me to death about this. There's no doubt about it.'_

"Very well," the boy spoke in exasperation. Holding the jar with one hand, he munched down its content in swift speed, his surprised companion watching him. Apparently, the little girl had never seen anyone eat this fast, especially since the boy was partaking on mere crinkles. Contented, he then stood up from his seat and stepped away. "I'm not in any way inclined to what you just suggested but let us go then while it's still early," he said bluntly.

Temi peered to the inside of the jar just to see it half empty. "Diabetes may not kill you but there's still a risk of appendicitis if you always eat this fast."

"Not at all," L casually replied, licking his fingers clean of crumbs. "It was just a mere snack."

* * *

Walking to the backyard where no kid usually goes to, the two stood under the fair sunshine. It was almost four in the afternoon. The sun's heat had dissipated at the time, making the grassy field a perfect place to run around in.

"Alright," Temi began. "Because you're probably new to this game, I'm going to be the one who 'it' is."

"I'm familiar with the game but what is 'it'?" L asked austerely, his index finger hooked on his bottom lip, trying to figure out everything she was saying.

"The person who is 'it' is the one who will chase other children and tag them to pass being the 'it' to them," she explained.

"I see. But what's the goal of the game?"

"Just try to not become 'it' and if ever you become 'it', pass that to someone else. If the game ends and you're 'it', that means you lose."

"It's strenuous for such a trivial game," he deadpanned. "Nonetheless, I'll try to play this game you've said."

"Very well," She crouched, getting herself in game position. "Run away from me now because I'm going to get you."

At that moment, L dashed off albeit groggily, his back still arched. He was not used to running, especially when it was running away from another kid. Temi sprinted at the boy and immediately caught up with him. Seeing that she was getting closer, L frantically dashed. Patting him on the shoulder, she shouted "Tag" before darting away.

Finally understanding the game mechanics, he ran at her in full speed. He then tapped her on the arm. "Tag," said L who fled from the little girl whose turn it was to chase him. Cornering him on the orphanage's brass fence, Temi swiped him on his leg.

"Tag!"

He ran after her who went to one end of the orphanage's back wall and disappeared. Dazed, he looked out from the corner when a voice called from behind him.

"Who are you looking for?" she taunted, pushing him on his back and scurrying away. Huffing loudly, he ran to her. Soon, he could almost seize her, cornering her at the big oak tree. The little girl quickly shimmied behind, L chasing her around it. She then broke the ring of chase and escaped away.

The boy, having enough fun and games, leapt at her and sent them colliding to the ground, with him on top of her. "Tag!" he shouted. He shakily eased his head on her chest, cheek pressed on her shirt and completely bushed from all the excitement. "This game is just as-ridiculous as you are but I… Finally… Tagged you," he spoke wearily.

Heavily breathing, Temi faced her companion and laughed. "That was fun!" Calming herself down, she wiped away droplets of sweat on the boy's forehead with her fingers. "You're actually pretty good."

L raised his head to hers, getting a close view of her cheerful face. She was just about as sweaty as he was. The extremity of the sport was written all over her, she was also exhausted. But despite being worn out, her face still had its grace, its warm composure. Then he started to think about things. She was the face of the first girl who can tolerate him, the first girl who had done him some good (in a way), the first girl who made him feel like he was never alone. He never even realized that she could be so-beautiful. His heart was racing because of the vigorous game they played, then he knew it was not just because of that. At that moment, his face flushed red. "Temi-"

"I know," she giggled. "Apparently, I lost." She sat up and helped the little boy up. She ran her hand one last time on his cheek to wipe more of his sweat and smiled.

Internally, L was smiling back. He had been used to keeping his blank composure that all he could do was gaze back at the girl, his dilated pupils staring right at her. "Thank you."

Midsentence, Esme burst out the back door, eating a slice of leftover cake in one of her hands, caught off guard to see two surprised children looking back at her.

"Oh, my-I'm so, so sorry!" she yelped. "I didn't mean to startle you two." Observing them closely, she could clearly see that the two kids just did something tiresome. "And you're both huffing about and all covered in sweat." She turned to Temi, raising a brow at her. "What have you two been doing?"

"We were playing tag, Esme!" she snickered.

Finishing off the cake, the woman helped the tykes up and invited them in. Pulling out a clean towel from her apron pocket, she started wiping their faces dry. L, not used to being wiped by anyone else, grimaced at the sensation of the towel's coarseness rubbing against his cheek. "Not that I'm a complete nitpicker or anything but you two should change your clothes right away. I don't want you ending up being teased for smelling so sweaty." She pulled out two seats and hoisted the little ones on them.

"Alright, Esme," Temi agreed. "Just let us rest for a while-and catch our breaths," she said in between gasps.

"Uh-huh," the housekeeper agreed. "You got that right, girl." She then walked to the refrigerator, opening its door. "While I'm at it, how about some orange juice?"


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

* * *

24th of April 1991, a Wednesday. Lunchtime had ended as several of the orphanage housekeepers cleaned up after the children's used plates and brought them to the kitchen. As Esme soaped and rinsed each plate one by one, she passed them to her young helper who then wiped them dry with a clean dish cloth. Once she was done, Temi passes the plate on to another helper who then stacked them inside the dish cabinet. This routine went on, Esme washed the dishes while Temi wiped them dry. The little girl wanted to help the woman out so much that she enthusiastically volunteered to do the job herself. Plus, it was a good chance to strike a conversation with her. For Temi, chats with Esme had always been noteworthy.

Finishing the last of the plates, Esme handed it to the girl who then proceeded to wipe it. Whisking her hands off of dish water, the woman grabbed on her towel then dried her hands. She glanced to the child, sitting by the edge of the counter and thoroughly sponging away water off of the plate's surface, careful not to drop it nor let it slip from her hands.

"So, how's your friend?" she inquired.

Handing the clean plate to a helper, Temi turned to Esme not realizing that she was being asked. "What was that, Esme?"

"I thought I could finally ask you stuff about him since you two have been pretty close for the past several days."

The brunette let out a small chuckle. "How should I know? I haven't even seen him since yesterday."

Esme leaned back on the counter. "I'm just asking how he is since I thought you would know," she jested. "I see you two together a lot and it's only been a week since you've met."

"It's only been a week?" doubted the girl. "That's great. I think that means we're getting along well."

For a moment, Esme had a somber expression on her face. "Just don't forget what I've told you before, Temi. My advice from back then."

The child turned to her, knelt on where she was sitting and lowered the rest of her weight on her legs. Interested, she took note of how serious their conversation was getting. "Which advice, Esme? You told me a lot."

"Remember that time when I warned you to be careful? Because you have no idea what kind of kid he was?" she reminded, earning a small nod from her young companion. "I'm starting to worry about what trouble your friendship with him might cause you. In my case, it isn't so bad. I'm actually glad you befriended him," the woman explained matter-of-factly. "He seemed like a sad garden who's in desperate need of sunshine."

"Then what is it that made you worry so much about my involvement with him?"

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Esme walked closer to the girl and leaned in to whisper to her ear. "I've started to hear rumors about you being passed around." She then leaned back, her perplexed companion staring at her.

"What have they been saying about me?"

"Let's put it this way: Maybe they also see you with your friend often, and you know well the story about him. Some children are afraid of him, some are not. On the other hand, they see no reason to be afraid of you." The tyke's puzzled gaze never left her and instead continued to stare as she listened intently to the woman's explanation. "The point is, seeing you with him could give them a bad impression of you. I've also heard some rumors saying you two are special friends. What do you think of that?"

Even more confused than before, the tyke inched closer to Esme. "'Special friends'? What does that even mean?"

"I think they're speculating that he has certain feelings for you."

Humming, the girl thought. "Don't get me wrong, Esme, but isn't that just natural? Aren't people supposed to experience feelings in the first place?"

Esme shook her head and clarified her words. "I meant special feelings, girl. Ones that you won't experience at your age right now."

"Oh, like the ones they portrayed in the books," Temi thought, a finger thumping on her chin. "I find it hard to imagine that it would happen in reality because it all sound so pointless."

"But you do know what they are, right?"

"I know what they are, but are they really that sickening of excessive sentiment?"

The woman grumbled. "Temi, you're just so naïve."

"I know the concept of what those feelings are, Esme," the girl sighed in exasperation. "I can imagine them happening in books, but not in reality. It's probably because I don't understand the point why they would affect a person's way of thinking greatly. Though it would be a huge help if you clarified that up for me more. Could you provide me an explanation?"

With that, the girl continued to bother her older companion with her questions when a small knock could be heard coming from the kitchen door. Swinging the door open revealed the young boy they had been talking about earlier, one of his hands stuffed inside his jeans pocket.

"Good afternoon," he greeted, stepping inside and walking nearer to the two remaining people in the room. "I see you're all done with the dishes."

Temi waved to the lad and greeted him back. "Yeah. We'll be doing another round tonight after dinner."

Glancing to the older woman beside her, L could not help but notice that something was a bit off, as he could see from the pained look on Esme's face. "Are you alright, Esme? You seem troubled."

"I'm fine, darling," she half-lied. "It's just all these questions Temi's been asking me."

"What questions?"

Esme sighed. "Never mind them. It would just be a pain for you to understand. By the way, what are you doing here? We haven't seen you all day."

"I was in Miss Alice's class," he monotonously recalled. "Then went to my room to eat my lunch. I don't think I'm doing anything out of my daily routine."

"No, I guess not but why are you here exactly?" Esme asked once more.

"I was certain Temi would be here," he pointed out. "We have a book to read after all."

"Oh, that figures," said the girl. Letting her feet dangle at the edge of the counter, she called out to her older companion. The woman lifted the girl by her waist and set her down on the floor beside the young lad.

"You two run along now," Esme bid the youngsters. "I can finish up from here."

"But I still want to know what the both of you were talking about," L followed up just before they could leave.

"I suppose you should ask her about it," the woman pointed out. "It's kinda hard for me to explain but I guess you'll know when you hear it from her yourself."

Puzzled, he glanced to the brunette who just flashed him a timid smile. Nevertheless, he knew that Temi would somehow tell him about it. "Alright," he finally decided.

Just as they were about to leave, Temi remembered something important, snapping her fingers at the thought of it. "I left the book in my bedroom."

"You leave library books in your bedroom?" he asked, scratching the back of his head.

"I borrow books because I wanted to read them, silly," snickered the brunette. "But you should probably go ahead since I still have to get it from my room."

"I think I'll tag along with you on our way to the library," he suggested. "Since we'll be passing by the stairs anyway."

"Huh? Aren't we going to read at the backyard?"

"The weather's a bit off," L explained as he had observed earlier. "There's a high probability of light rain this afternoon."

"Is that so?" the brunette pondered. "In that case, let's go with your plan then."

As the tykes walked out of the room, the little girl turned to Esme and waved, promising to see her again later. The woman returned a small wave to the two just as they had left. Crossing her arms, a slight reassured smile curved on her lips, knowing that even if Temi could not handle the rumors, her friend would most likely be there to help her deal with them. With that in mind, Esme finalized that the issue should not be something she should worry about.

* * *

"I can't wait to know what happens next in the story," Temi spoke as the two of them walked through the hallway. "I'm anticipating that a lot will happen and there are a couple of things I desperately want to know."

"Speaking of things you want to know-" interrupted L. "What were you and Esme talking about that made her look like she got caught in a huge debt? I want to know that for myself."

"Oh, that," she recalled. "She informed me of kids passing around weird rumors about me."

"Weird rumors?"

"It's sort of difficult to explain in my case since there are things that I don't understand," she notified him before continuing with her explanation. "They think something bad is going on with me because they often see me with you."

Comprehending, L raised a thumb to his lips. "I see. I'm aware that rumors around me are being passed around, but they don't have to do the same to you just because you're keeping me company."

"That's what I thought as well," Temi agreed. "She also told me about speculations that you might be having special feelings for me."

His eyebrows curled, flustered by the news. "Huh? Where on earth did she pick that up from?"

"I know what you're thinking and I know it's not true-" she cleared up. "But there's just something that's not clear to me. I don't quite get the idea of special feelings at all."

Thoughtfully, the boy nodded. "I'm certain Esme meant feelings that we're still too young to fully comprehend, especially you. You're just six nonetheless, and somewhat clueless when it comes to understanding how intense human emotions can be."

"I see," she replied, meticulously dissecting his every word so she could understand clearly.

"And I'm pretty sure the children believed that I might be harboring those feelings for you," he deducted. "Based on what Esme meant to tell you, that is."

"Well, that's just silly," she remarked. "Who would even think of harboring those feelings for me anyway?"

"I probably would, hypothesizing that we're adults and not in the situation we are in right now."

Surprised, she tilted her head to him. "What do you mean?"

"Using the example I've mentioned and under considerable circumstances, there's a possibility that I could develop feelings for you, a small one at that. But I can't say that I do have feelings for you now at this very moment just because you asked me if the rumors being spread around is true," he clarified.

"I'm not saying that the rumor is true," with an awkward smirk, the girl assured. "I simply thought that it was for a second back there."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to give such a vague explanation."

The girl smiled. "Not at all. At least you were able clear things up for me, and I thank you a lot for that." She hung her head slightly and turned her sights to the floor they were walking on. "I just hope you don't think of me stupid because of my inexperience with these mature emotions you're all so well-informed of."

"It's merely inexperience," he reassured. "Look at it this way, you should be glad since there are still plenty of things for you to learn about."

"That's true."

He continued. "And if ever I did have special feelings for you, I'll try to make sure that you're the first to know."

"You do know that you don't have to take the rumors seriously," she snickered, slightly perturbed by his assurance.

"I never took them seriously," L shrugged. "Well, I just thought I should let you know."

* * *

Stopping at the end of the hallway, Temi began to walk upstairs as L walked the opposite direction to the library. About a minute later, the little girl could be seen walking down the staircase with an old book in her hand, the one she and L left off from reading. Just as she was on her way to their meeting place, an older child called out to her from the hallway. _'One of Clem's buddies,'_ she thought, wondering what he wanted from her.

"Don't you think it's weird?" he questioned the girl. "That you've been spending a lot of time with that poor excuse of a child?"

The brunette tucked a strand of her stray wavy hair behind her ear and thought. "If you're talking about who I think you're talking about, it's none of your business," she stated. "Besides, what do you want with me?"

The kid smirked. "Touchy, aren't we? I don't have anything to do with you. I'm just saying that maybe it's about time you know the truth about him."

"Know what about him?"

One of the kid's companions snuck up from behind him and warned her. "That he's a ne'er-do-well. You ought to have known that by now."

Touching her chin, Temi recalled a certain account that she had heard from Esme before. "I suppose you're talking about the time he defended himself against his offenders. I don't see anything wrong with what he did since he's being pushed around and there's no one there to defend him."

"Offenders?" scoffed the child. "Are you implying that we're the ones bullying him from the start?"

"I might be. What's your point?"

"Watch your mouth, little girl," his companion argued. "You have no right to say that just because you heard his side of the story. What about ours? You're incredibly biased."

"I'm not biased. I'm merely saying the truth. I know who you lot are and what you do with newcomers. I've been here for a year and I've seen what terrible things you had to put them through. You bully them for your own gain, for your entertainment. Now, did what he do to you justify all the wrongs you've done to the other children? I'm afraid so," she countered. "And I'm not as little as you think I am."

"What did you say?!" exclaimed the kid's companion.

"I see," spoke the enlightened boy, holding his enraged pal back. "The kid is threatening you. You're siding with him because he's threatening you."

"No," Temi firmly denied. "How could you think of it that way?"

"Granted that you haven't heard our side of the story, I think that's the reason why you're defending him all this time. Am I right?"

"No, that's not true. You don't even have anything on you to prove that."

"I don't need proof," boasted the boy. "Because look at you, still defending him even though we've cornered you into revealing us his plot against you. Listen, everyone," he called out to the children passing by. They were either his accomplices or just random bystanders who had nothing to do with what was happening to them. "Learn from this girl, that whoever goes near to that black-haired boy will be threatened to side with him just because he is stronger than everyone, just because he is dominant. Do we want that to happen? No, of course not! So let's hear it out from this girl, and make her confess to us just what he really is: a ne'er-do-well!"

"Just admit it already," his companion appealed. "So you won't have to suffer any more of his constant threatening."

"But he's not threatening me," Temi denied once more. "Will you just hear me out?"

"Cut your ties with him," pleaded the boy. "It will save you a lot of trouble."

"Cut his ties! Cut his ties!" yelled his pal. He repeated his request until the crowd of children agreed with their statement, sided with them, and was chanting along.

"Cut his ties! Cut his ties!"

* * *

In the library classroom, L waited. Counting down the minutes that passed, he was beginning to fret. _'She's taking longer than she's supposed to,'_ he thought. Perhaps she needed to use the bathroom. But then, he remembered that there was already one inside the room, a clean and functional one at that. Peeved, L left his seat and started walking out of the room to see where the girl had gone off to.

Opening the library door, he heard a crowd of children chanting something in unison, booming all the way from the hallway. "Cut his ties," they said. Hearing those words, the boy speculated that he should be concerned of what was happening. Walking closer to the crowd, he could see Temi in their midst, keeping her ground and with an old book in her hands. She appeared to be testifying something against the mob. _'But what are they arguing about?'_

"Give it up, little girl," ordered the leader, the boy who started the whole thing. "There's no way we would let you leave without letting us know what his real deal is with you."

' _I should have known,'_ L realized. At that, he dreaded that the girl might suffer from the same mistreatment he got from his oppressors, just because they thought he dragged her with that in mind, he considered that should she decide to go along with their pleas and cut her ties with him, it would probably be the best for her to do so. He did not think he could stand to see her be treated as badly as he was.

"No, I won't dare cut my ties with him. I'm not under his influence in any form. He's my friend… And I like him," she finalized hardheartedly, L overwhelmed upon hearing her statement. "I like him to be my friend. He's one of the few people here that made sense, more sense than any of you could come up with. Why must you all be against him?"

"Because you're still under his threats, and we want to free you from them," firmly declared the leader.

"How can you free me from something that isn't even there?" she asked.

Slowly, the crowd started to quiet down. As the throng of children parted in the middle, L walked on that path to Temi. Finally reaching where she was, he stood beside her, fearlessly facing the leader of the mob straight up. "I've always known that it was meaningless to argue with you," the black-haired boy remarked. "Why do you have to get the innocent involved with your dirt with me?" he questioned, his dark pupils staring into the boy's soul like the void sucking out the life from it.

Speechless from fear, the boy just stared back at the black-haired lad, struggling to keep his composure in place. Receiving no response from his oppressor, L resumed with his statement aimed to the witnessing bystanders. "If you're all smart as what Mr. Wammy believes you all are, then I suggest you stop listening to pathetic rumors and think for yourself. Don't let other people do your thinking for you, you morons."

Maddened, L took Temi by her hand and pulled her with him, away from the crowd and on to the library classroom where they were supposed to meet in the first place. Arriving there, he locked the door from the inside then glanced to the young girl. Calmly, he asked her. "Are you alright?"

Subconsciously, the girl nodded her head. "Yeah. I'm fine. I just didn't expect that they would go that far."

"My thoughts exactly," he replied as he walked to a seat, Temi following right behind him. "But you should have known better than to argue with them. That is not your concern."

"I know that," she winced. "But they were being persistent."

"That doesn't matter," the boy scolded. "As far as you're concerned, you have no right to place yourself in my ordeals. You shouldn't be dealing with problems that are not your own."

The girl frowned at his selfish yet overly-protective conviction. "I'm sorry."

Calming down the tension between them, L paused and looked at her apologetically. "But I suppose I'm the one to blame. I was expecting something like this would happen, but wholeheartedly I apologize because I never wanted to get you involved at all." Wearily, he sighed. "You have been a good companion to me all this time. But lately, I've been thinking that I might have to agree with them in one thing."

"With what?"

"That it might be best for you to cut your ties with me. It would save you the trouble from being involved with any of my faults."

Disagreeing with him, Temi crossed her arms. "I refuse to."

Thinking, L drew a thumb close to his mouth. His eyebrows curled at her display of persistence. "Are you saying this simply out of sentimental whim?"

"Not in your faintest day," she denied. "I would still prefer to read books with you anytime than with anyone of them."

"Because I have plenty of free time?"

"Maybe so, but that's not the point. It's just that… I get along with you very well," she explained, unsure of what she should say. "I don't know how to put it in the right words, but does that make any sense to you?"

Chewing on his thumbnail, L replied, somehow understanding what she probably meant. "I suppose so."

For the past week, all his interactions were limited to children who almost had the same way of thinking as he did: Temi, Ventose, Roma, Ether... He had not met such intelligible people worth having conversations with before, and he thought that must be what she intended to say.

Looking back to what happened earlier, it was not his usual mindset to boldly speak in front of children. But Temi was being cornered, and he thought it was just the right thing for him to do. L cringed at the thought of the poor girl single-handedly dealing with problems that were not hers in the first place.

However, he remembered what happened the other day. He pondered of how his heart raced so fast, how the sight of Temi made him act that way. That made him question himself if his actions were done simply because it was well-thought out and justified, that it was what was supposed to be done. But looking back, perhaps he may have done it out of sentimental whim, that there was something in his subconscious telling him to do so. Briskly shrugging the idea off, he firmly defined to himself that his actions were all carried out with his sheer rationale. But were they?

"Well, now that's all done with, shall we get started?" she suggested, holding the book in front of her.

* * *

Afternoon fell, at the exact time when Temi would excuse herself out of group conversations then leave off to somewhere. Just as L had predicted, Temi interrupted them in the middle of their reading. "Can we pause from here?" she asked. "I have to leave for something I have to attend to. I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine," L permitted. "But I do mind where you have been going off to all this time, since Ventose and I have been wondering about it lately."

The girl snickered. "If you wanted to know so badly, I guess there's no harm if I tag you along with me."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she said, closing the book and standing up from her seat. "Let's go then."

Leaving the library, the pair walked to the lounge and saw Esme waiting inside upon opening the door, sitting on one of the single-person couches.

"Oh, I see you brought a visitor with you," the woman remarked at the sight of the young lad. "So you wanted to embarrass yourself in front of him do you, Temi?"

"That's not fair, Esme," Temi giggled. "I'm still not as good of a pianist as you are."

L stuck a thumb on his bottom lip, arriving to the reason of the girl's daily departure. "You're taking piano lessons from Esme during afternoons, I see. That's why you excuse yourself so early in our meetings," he concluded.

The girl nodded. "I guess it all makes sense to you now."

"It does. But I hope you don't mind if I join the both of you," he excused.

"Not at all, love," Esme saluted, walking to the piano and holding onto a piece of paper which appeared more ancient than it actually was. "Just close the door while you're at it. I would warn you that you might hear more noise than piano music though."

"I'm not that terrible, you know?" the girl denied as she walked to the piano chair and sat on it.

Closing the door, the boy made his way to another couch adjacent to where Esme sat, closely observing the two other people in the room.

"Very well then. Here's what you'll be playing this afternoon," the woman instructed as she placed a piece of sheet music on the music rack. Upon doing so, Esme sat back on her couch and waited for Temi to begin.

The girl studied the placement of the notes and other significant notations written on the paper before setting her hands on the piano keys. Slowly but calculatedly, she started playing the musical instrument, the soft piano music filling the room. It was at the end of the first verse when she started to accidentally hit a wrong note and decided to start over from the beginning. After several trials, she finally grasped the correct sequence of the notes. It was going on smoothly until halfway in the second verse, the girl committed another mistake. Aggravated, she slammed her fingers on the key bed, the sound of random piano keys blared and disrupted the grandeur of the song she played. Soon, the thundering noise gradually stopped and was replaced by the woman's laughter, bellowing inside the room like it could actually be heard from the hallway.

"You already got the first verse, girl! The second verse can't be so different from it," laughed the woman.

"I'm sorry, Esme," the girl snickered. "It's not my fault if my hands are small!"

Turning to the boy, Esme winked. "See? I warned you of the noise you wouldn't want to hear."

"It's quite alright," L replied, gawkily scratching the back of his head.

The little girl turned to the woman and pouted. "But I'm learning a new song, Esme." She then raised an index finger in front of her. "There is no way learning can be hastened," she said matter-of-factly.

The woman chuckled. "You and your philosophical mind."

Standing up from his seat, the black-haired boy made his way to the girl, perching on a vacant portion of the piano chair beside her. Seeing the sheet music placed in front of them, he began observing the notations that were inked heavily on stained paper. Strangely, the song's title and composer were not written on it.

"It's in two-fourths time signature, andantino," he spoke as he studied the piece of paper. "It means light and quick musical movement. It starts off with one-note basses then followed by the main repertoire."

Facing her companion, Temi was gladdened to think that he might be just as fond of music as she was. "You know the song?"

"I'm not an advocate of music," he said impassively. "So I have no idea what song it is that you're playing."

"You're not? Then how come you knew about-" Midsentence, L stared closely at her with his usual penetrating gaze, his face right in front of hers causing her slight discomfort. "Never mind."

"Scooch over," interrupted Esme who immediately propped herself in between the two. "Now let me show you how it's done."

True to her word, the woman began gracefully performing the song like a professional, her eyes fixed on the piano keys she pressed. While he listened, the boy timidly peered to the little girl on the opposite side of the chair. Temi's eyes flickered while taking in the dulcet melodies that filled her ears. A smile made its way on her lips, the same smile that made L's heart race from the day before, making him turn away from her and hang his head nervously. On the song's final crescendo, Esme pressed the last few keys, slowly and elegantly, before coming to a full stop.

"Now, wasn't that lovely?" the woman said, soliciting her companions' reactions. Cheerily, Temi clapped her hands.

"Yes, definitely," the boy replied. In his mind, he knew he just gave away an indefinite answer. Esme's performance was indeed first-rate but setting that aside, he was unconsciously staring at the girl beside her.

"You didn't have to make me look bad, Esme." The girl sat up and slowly began playing the simpler notes of the song once more. "Just give me some time to study it and I'll be as good as gold."

"I'll be expecting that, girl." She raised an index finger to her. "By the way, you know what the song's called?"

Temi stopped from playing, unsure of what to answer since the sheet music did not provide the song title and its composer. "I have no idea, Esme. What is it?"

"' _Liebesgruss'_ ," the woman sighed dreamily. "In French, _'Salut d'Amour'_ , a piece by Edward Elgar."

"It sounds lovely," praised the little girl.

"It is. Do you know what it means?"

"' _Salut d'Amour'_ ," L interrupted, his thumb resting on his bottom lip. "It directly translates to 'Love's Greeting' in English."

"It might be a good song to describe you two, don't you think?" she teased, lightly patting the two kids on their backs.

L stayed silent, annoyed and covertly tried to hide his reddened face. He deliberated. ' _Why does this woman have to jump to conclusions so easily?'_

"Esme!" Temi hollered, hopping off her chair and ran to the other side of the little boy, her own arm grabbing his. "My friend doesn't have time for petty things like that. He knows better." She then turned to him who stared blankly at her. "Right?"

In tentative compliance with her, L simply nodded his head.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

* * *

31st of October 1991, a Thursday. The season of fall had reached Winchester once more, its chilly air blowing on pedestrians, tugging on their coats and scarves. Leaves of various shapes and colors flooded parks and vacant lots. This season was probably when The Wammy's House took its appearance to its prime. The pristine architecture, wide open greenery and brassy fencing was what made the establishment appear so regal, so dignified. Addition to this was the sight of children frolicking in its wide open field, going about anywhere in the clutter of fallen foliage. October 31, Halloween. Soon, children and even participating adults clad in various costumes would fill the streets, buckets and bags in their hands, soliciting the neighborhood for cash and candy. Unlit jack-o'-lanterns and on-theme party favors decorated their paths, getting in the festive spirit.

It was L's ninth birthday. The orphanage's founder remembered well enough that this was a day that the child could spend a little time off from his mundane activities. This day could give the boy a chance to do something a little more worthwhile. It only comes once a year nonetheless.

The old man wondered if L had plans for his birthday, but asking the boy about it directly might spoil the surprise (not that there was at the moment, that was all that he knew). He began to think of ways to find out if the boy did have plans without him knowing about it. He started to enumerate people who had ties to L, people he could ask but so far, there was only Quillsh himself since the boy was not social at all.

The man began enumerating instances with which could be properly described as when the child did interact with the other children. Through this, Quillsh had clues but it would be close to impossible for him to know. He suddenly remembered the time he went to the library classroom to see two tykes being taught by Sander, one of whom was L. He remembered the child they were looking out to from a window. He remembered that one child who almost had the same way of thinking as L. All the evidences he pondered about were enough to fit his criteria, to prove that there was someone he could probably ask about the boy's plans.

Early morning, Quillsh sat in his office, his door opened in hopes that the child he needed to see would pass by him. Half an hour later, a blonde went by on her way to the kitchen.

' _Ether,'_ he thought. He knew the young blonde had ties to the person he was looking for, so he called out to her.

"Yes, Mr. Wammy?" she spoke in her gentle French tone.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but have you seen Temi?"

Thinking, she held her chin. "Temi? I think I saw her in the lounge playing the piano. But I don't usually see her do that so I think it just might be my imagination." Ether laughed and bonked herself jokingly on the head. "If that's not her, then I'm pretty sure she's still asleep at a time like this."

"I see. I was just about to ask her something. Would you like to join me go to her?"

"It's alright with me, Mr. Wammy but there's something I have to help Esme with."

He smiled. "Very well. I'll be on my way then." The founder stood up and walked to the door post where the blonde stood and petted her lightly on the head. "Thank you, Ether."

With that said, the girl smiled, gave a small bow and started walking to the kitchen. Quillsh walked to where the lounge was. Stepping inside, he could see Temi facing the upright piano and playing a piece. The old man smiled, closing the door behind him. He waited for the girl to finish her performance before he could interfere.

"' _Song Without Words in E major Op.30 No.3'_ ," he spoke. "A beautiful masterpiece by Felix Mendelssohn, one of Queen Victoria's personal favorites. A good and intermediate piece to practice on."

The little girl turned to the man standing from behind her, knowing who he was from the sound of his voice. "Mr. Wammy, good morning," she greeted.

The old man sat on a vacant portion of the piano chair she was seating on. "That was superb," he praised. "How did you learn to play the piano so skillfully?"

"Not at all," she snickered. "There are still some songs I can't play as good. Esme taught me how months ago."

"I see. She's always fond of playing classical music," Quillsh recalled. "But it's nice to see that you're making progress."

The little girl breathed, thinking about changing the topic. "So what brings you here today?"

"I just thought I'd find you here. More importantly, I came here to ask you a question."

"Alright," she insisted. "What is it?"

"Today is one of your acquaintance's birthday," spoke he who was unsure of how to address L to her. "And I was wondering if he had, by chance, any plans for celebrating it."

Holding her chin, Temi recalled some of the Wammy's kids, those whose birthdays she knew of. So far, there was only one kid she knew whose birthday was today. The black-haired boy told her about it while they were studying in the library classroom. "I believe he already told me about his birthday before. He said he was turning nine, if I remember correctly."

"Yes, that's him." Quillsh waved an index finger in the air. "Now, did he tell you about his plans for today?"

The girl shook her head. "Not at all." She knew it was L's birthday despite the fact that she never even got to know his name. They had still been seeing each other frequently. She eagerly waited for hints of what he was thinking since his big day was nearing. In the end, he just timidly smiled back and turned down her queries. "It's like he isn't even interested in talking about it at all."

"That's a shame. I knew he would be uninterested in his own special day." The old man scratched his temple and began creating a plan of his own. "In that case, how about I plan this day for him? I'm sure he will be glad."

She smiled at the old man. "I suppose so, Mr. Wammy. That would probably be the best."

He patted the little girl's head, smiling warmly at her. "Thank you anyway, my dear." He stood up straight and started walking away. "Keep up the good work."

Upon closing the door, the girl closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. After a few minutes, Esme and Ether, the latter rubbing her eyes in disbelief, walked inside the room with a box full of certain cooking utensils. At that moment, Temi knew what they were for and walked out of the room with the two.

* * *

That noon, Quillsh was well on his way to deliver L's lunch: six pieces of assorted gourmet cupcakes and a cup of sweetened hot chocolate all served on a steel tray. As if that was not sweet enough, a bowl overflowing with sugar cubes was placed on the side.

"I presume you don't have any plans for your birthday, L?" the old man declared as he placed the food tray beside the boy.

L, busy as he usually was, picked up a cupcake from the plate without even bothering to lift his eyes from the computer monitor, putting a large portion of the confectionary in his mouth. "Nothing in particular," he mumbled, his mouth full of the pastry. "Unless you have something to surprise me with."

"Ah, of course. So that's what you were expecting all along," Quillsh revered. "I have been thinking about that this morning."

"Then do you have plans, Mr. Wammy?"

"I have been thinking maybe I should take you for a stroll by the Abbey Grounds," he proposed. "It should lift your spirits up and give you a chance to go out from here once in a while."

"A walk in the park, huh?" L thought, swallowing the contents of his mouth. The thought of going out of the orphanage sent chills down to his spine but at the same time, it was enough to motivate him. "Sounds fine. What time should I be ready?"

"Splendid. Meet me later in my office at three o'clock."

With that said, the lad agreed and went on to finish the rest of his meal.

Later at around the mentioned time, the little boy stepped inside the founder's office where the old man had already prepared himself. With his coat put on, the boy tastelessly wrapped a thick scarf around his neck while stepping in his worn-out sneakers like they were a pair of bathroom slippers.

While L put on his woolen gloves, the pair walked out through the main door and strolled to the gate, placing themselves outside the orphanage's limits. With his shoes on the cold concrete pavement, the little boy felt a sense of freedom, an endless space to stretch himself out. He felt great knowing that it had been a while since he last stepped on the outside world and breathed in its scent.

Passing by familiar landmarks, the Winchester Cathedral and museums, nothing has quite changed except for probably a couple of street signs, stalls, and some new people in the neighborhood. Approaching Great Minster Street, the two passed by a familiar candy shop. Pausing there, the little boy tugged on his companion's sleeve.

"Can we get some candy, Mr. Wammy?" he muffled through his scarf which covered most of the bottom of his face.

Quillsh nodded. "Of course, L."

Walking inside, a small bell stuck on the door clanged as shelf upon shelf of delectable sweets welcomed them, the store itself decorated with Halloween ambience. Looking onto one of the shelves, L pulled out two strawberry-flavored Chupa Chups lollipops and handed it to the counter. Upon paying for the two sweets, they left the establishment and continued to their destination. L unwrapped one of the suckers and placed it in his mouth, his cheek bulging with the round confection. As for the other piece, he placed it in his coat pocket to save it for later.

Finally reaching the park, Quillsh sat on a vacant bench as he observed his young companion who chose to perch on one of the playground swings, staring into the warm and inviting afternoon sky. Twirling the lollipop with his tongue, L pondered.

' _The outside,'_ he sighed. It was not a big deal for common civilians to go outside their houses since they could do it at any time and in any day, unlike him and the other children back at Wammy's. An opportunity like this could already be considered a Wammy kid's dream since they were not at all free to go outside. All their needs have already been provided to them inside the orphanage walls. The establishment already has a chapel and an infirmary, so going outside to attend church or to have themselves patched up was pointless. To pass the time, the children played with toys, engaged in educational or physical activities, or both.

Throughout his stay in the orphanage, L never complained, neither did he get homesick. He had a personal computer which he used to keep himself occupied and somehow connected to the outside world. He played with toys that help boost his logical capacity. He read newspapers to keep himself updated with the local news. He attended Roma's group discussions to enhance his knowledge of people's views. He read books with Temi to entertain and, at the same time, inform themselves. He listened to her play the piano to hear music that he usually did not hear much of. At that time, he remembered her. He stared up to the orange sky, thinking that maybe he should have brought her along.

' _She would've been thrilled to go outside the orphanage for once in a while,'_ he pondered. He knew she loved freedom, that she loved the thought of being outside, the thought of being able to travel even if it was just one kilometer away from The Wammy's House. She must already be wondering where he was now, he thought once more.

Then he began to speculate about life outside of Wammy's, knowing that there would come a time that he would be leaving eventually. A few minutes later, Quillsh approached the little boy and sat on another swing beside him.

"Mr. Wammy," L spoke, pulling out the candy from his mouth. "There's been something I've been wondering for quite some time."

Quillsh faced the little boy who was in deep thought, staring out to the beautiful view of an oak tree gracefully shedding its leaves. "What is it, child?"

"Those children back in the orphanage, where do they go to when they've grown up?"

His fingers stroking his fine white moustache, the old man replied. "Those children, including you, can go wherever they want to as soon as they have 'graduated' from the orphanage."

"How do they graduate from the orphanage then?"

"They graduate usually when they already know how to handle themselves or what career they should pursue, or at least until they have reached the age of fifteen. That works too."

"I see." L placed the Chupa Chups back in his mouth.

"However, there are graduates who are held as significant identities inside the orphanage, L. These graduates are assigned a letter each, the letters reflect on their aliases," Quillsh explained. "The designation of a letter in Wammy's alphabet held a special significance for those who graduated from The Wammy's House. It signified that they are charged with changing the world, children who would be renowned for making an impact to a lot of people's lives. Above all, the designation signified my trust. There are only twenty-six letters to exist in every generation and I am proud to say that yours, L, is the first generation I can assign these letters to."

The boy stared down to the earth, pondering. The lollipop in his mouth had started to shrink when his awareness hit him. He thought about his name. "You named me a letter," he realized, facing his companion. "Even if I haven't graduated yet, you already assigned me as L. What does that mean?"

"It means no one else in the orphanage in your generation can take your place of L since I have already given it to you." Quillsh smiled warmly. "I've seen your potential, your outstanding abilities even when you've just stepped inside the orphanage, and I believe that you are rightful to take that spot. You well-deserve that letter in the twenty-six of Wammy's alphabet."

With what the founder said, L was grateful. "I understand."

Learning about the significance of his position, another thought entered the boy's mind. "Mr. Wammy, you have always been by my side and I'm very thankful for that." He pulled out the bare lollipop stick from his mouth. "With this mission I am trusted with, when my time comes that I'll be graduating from The Wammy's House and I have chosen the path I want, will you still be accompanying me like what you are doing right now regardless the situation I'm in?"

Touched (and though a bit uncertain), Quillsh let out a hearty laugh. "Of course I will, young one. By all means."

With his eyes cast to the sky, the little boy pondered more about the significance of his position, a position which endowed him with the greatest responsibility he was expected to fulfill. He knew he was still young to think about it, or was not alone when the time came for him to do it, but with Quillsh explaining to him the depth and height of why he was given his name, his aspirations went skyrocketing to the sky, setting his sights to them. He had never felt more empowered in his life.

"Thank you," said the boy who had been named L. At that moment, he had an idea of who he was going to be. L Lawliet, his name was.

* * *

More traditional Halloween adornments have already been placed around by the participating neighborhood. Carved jack-o'-lanterns had already been lit with candles. Artificial cobwebs were spun heavily on tree branches. Hand-made tombstones, skeletons and scarecrows were placed on neighboring yards. People were carrying brooms, trick-or-treat buckets and loot bags everywhere, their costumes made varied impressions to people passing them by. Kids had their faces painted with veins, skulls and other images. One boy carrying a candy apple had his face painted with green all over.

The Wammy's House, though pristine and prudent, was also in the Allhallowtide spirit. Some of the children themselves had on crafty costumes, carved pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns and decorated the exterior and interior of the establishment with whatever Halloween embellishments they could get their hands on prior to that day. When night fell, it had been their tradition to hold an All Hallow's Eve party maintained exclusively by the founder himself.

Quillsh Wammy and L had arrived back in the orphanage at around six o'clock in the afternoon after their short trip. Removing their outer clothing in Quillsh's office, the sight of costumed children went by them, the tykes making their way quickly to the kitchen.

Baffled, the black-haired boy peered to his older companion and asked. "What is going on, Mr. Wammy?"

Quillsh sighed reminiscently. "Ah, the All Hallow's Eve party."

"Party?"

"Every year, we celebrate Halloween with a party when night falls. It's similar to a Christmas party but more like Halloween nonetheless."

L pressed a thumb on his bottom lip, chewing on his nail loudly. "I see."

Halloween party music echoed from the outside. "It's already starting," the old man said and peered to the boy. "Would you like to join them?"

The little boy shook his head, declining. "It sounds wonderful, but I'm not interested with participating in pagan traditions."

Quillsh chuckled at the boy's reaction. "But it comes only once a year, child." He petted the boy on his head. "And today is your birthday."

"It's not a coincidence that my birthday falls on All Hallow's Day," he spoke disinterestedly.

"Still, you don't necessarily have to join their games or activities," the man urged. "You can at least sit back and watch them enjoy themselves. Not to mention, you can eat almost any Halloween sweets you can."

L's face lit up at the thought. "What kind of sweets?"

The man held the stub on his chin. "Caramel apples, candy corn, bonfire toffee, candies and cookies in different shapes, and my personal favorite, Alice's barmbrack," he enumerated.

With the thought of all the confections reckoned, it got hard for the young boy to refuse. "Can't you just send some of them to my room, Mr. Wammy?"

"I'm afraid not," he explained. "They are exclusively for the party-goers, L."

Timidly, the boy started walking to the main hallway. "In that case, I am attending just for the treats, not the tricks."

The founder chuckled. "You won't regret it, young one."

Entering the blind spot of the open field, L saw the festive event. It was starting to get dark out, but the area was lit by lanterns and strings of mini-lightbulbs. He could see a mess of children frolicking and dancing around, with Miss Alice and other assistants supervising them. A cluster of several children were dunking for apples. Beside it was a paper boat race. The children were blowing their individually crafted boats in an inflatable pool filled with water all the way to the finish line. Two of the participants were Roma and Clem, with the former nearing the red strip. Clem was puffing so hard on his boat that his face was already turning pink like a strawberry. Despite his persistence, the red-head still reached the finish first, winning herself a candy stick.

In between the two contests was another, a biscuit-eating contest hosted by Miss Alice. Pairs of children, namely a boy and a girl, have to eat their way from both ends of the thin chocolate-covered biscuit to the middle in the fastest time possible. Among the participants were Ventose and Temi, who were well on their way to the middle. The latter gave the remaining half inch to the boy, holding in their laughs as they had been struggling to avoid face contact. At game completion, Ventose pumped his fist in the air while Temi clapped her hands, laughing at the gaucheness they were able to endure, the two of them winning a milk chocolate bar each.

Despite all the excitement, L uninterestedly walked to a chair near the food table, perching on it as he took a paper plate and placed all the confectionaries he could get his hands on. Munching on toffee, he continued to observe the randomness later seeing Ventose, who apparently noticed him, go to his direction.

"Hey, mate," the beanie boy greeted. "I'm so glad you could come though I thought you said you usually didn't like social gatherings," he said as he scratched the back of his head.

L shoved a cookie in his mouth, chewing on it loudly. "I came here for the food. Mr. Wammy said it'd be rude if I were to eat them alone in my room." His black pupils examined the beanie boy. "You're not wearing a costume. How come?"

The boy laughed, helping himself to a cookie. "I'm not really into dress-ups, bud. To be honest, I never liked the whole costume fad myself." He chomped on the pastry he held. "Esme and Ether's cookies are still the best."

"Yes," L remarked. "Ether would make a great pastry chef one day."

"How about you?" Ventose faced his companion. "You're not into the costume thing either?"

"Apparently not."

The beanie boy pulled a seat beside his companion, the two of them watching the frolicking kids and talking about them, for instance, one kid's prowess in bobbing for apples. A while later, they could see one of their companions from a distance.

Temi had been helping in refilling bowls with new cookies which Esme and Ether had been busy baking. Carrying the plastic bowl on her hands, she walked to the food table where the two boys were. Noticing the usually lonesome black-haired boy, the little girl greeted him, surprised to see that he could attend. "Hey! You made it to the party. I'm so glad you could."

"Yes, that's what Ventose said as well."

She then set the bowl down on a vacant spot on the table. "Aren't you two going to join in any of the games?"

Ventose shook his head. "Nah. For now, I'm just waiting for the barmbrack. That's what I've been waiting for this whole time."

Temi nodded. "The bonfire-lighting is what I'm looking forward to."

"Do you even stay with them afterwards?" the beanie boy chuckled.

"Not at all," the girl replied. "I'm not really interested in Miss Alice's bonfire ghost stories." Pouring herself some apple juice, their black-haired companion caught her attention. "This is your first time to attend a Wammy House Halloween party, I see," Temi remarked to L who nodded in return. Knowing that he loved sweets, the girl thought of a suggestion. "Then you're going to like Miss Alice's barmbrack."

The boy pressed a thumb on his lips and thought. "I didn't know Miss Alice was Irish."

"Now that you mention it, I didn't know about that too." Ventose agreed. "The barmbrack tradition must have been passed down in her family."

Time passed by. The trio talked more on the random things they have observed from the party, pointing and snickering at the thought of the overly-enthusiastic children. Soon, Esme had gathered all the kids to a long dining table to partake on the main Halloween dish: Miss Alice's barmbracks. She cut the rolls of yeasted bread into even parts, enough for each child, and passed them out.

Like every Irish Halloween tradition, the yeasted bread has a catch. The bread roll had been baked with small cardboard boxes inside it, each containing a unique trinket like a cereal prize. The children anticipated this for a sense of fortune-telling game or just to get a unique keepsake. The trinkets included a rare coin, a pea, a small drinking straw which replaced the traditional stick, a piece of cloth, various chunky beads and pendants, and the most-awaited gold ring. The children forked on their buns, careful not to shove a trinket box into their mouths. One kid shouted when he found out that he had the coin. Another kid got her hand on the drinking straw.

Almost finished with his bread, L noticed one of the small boxes in his slice. He pulled the piece out and opening it revealed that he was the one who got the ring. Holding it between finger and thumb, he raised it in front of him. "What do you know?"

Ventose peered to the object his companion got. Yearning for the trinket in a long time, the boy thought of a way to get a hold of it. "Hey, how about a trade?"

Skeptical, L stared at the beanie boy. "What did you get?"

"A locket. Probably Miss Alice's own." The boy held the necklace by its chain and raised it in front of him, a silver oval-shaped locket the size of a thumb dangled at its bottom. "Want to trade?"

The brunet pondered for a while before coming to his decision. "Alright, but I don't want to know why you'd want to." He passed the ring to his seatmate's hand who gave him the locket in return.

"The ring is the most anticipated object in the barmbrack," Ventose explained, his eyes fixated to the small trinket he received. "You know why?"

"In Irish customs, a ring in the barmbrack slice predicts that one is supposed to find true love in the succeeding year."

"Oh." The astonished boy looked at him questioningly. "If you knew what it meant then why did you trade with me?"

"Because I don't believe in such customs," the brunet deadpanned. "I'm not interested in such things. Besides, from the way you wanted to have it, I think you deserve to have it more than I ever will."

Ventose queried. "Is that a compliment?"

With an unreadable expression on his face, L nodded and patted him gently on the shoulder. The meal resumed until all of the children were done with their bread. Miss Alice clapped her hands and called on the children to come with her. Perplexed, L turned to his seatmate. "What are they going to do now?"

The beanie boy set down the mug he was drinking apple juice on. "She's calling us for the bonfire-lighting. It signals the end of the All Hallow's Eve party," he explained.

A while later, the black-haired Temi ran to them and pulled on their arms. "Come on. The bonfire-lighting is starting," she urged, tugging on the sleeves of the boy's shirts. Though peevish at first, Ventose finally agreed and the three of them went to where the crowd was.

In the middle of the crowd was a pile of firewood made into a small teepee slightly covered with petrol and hay, all ready to be lit. With a lit torch in one hand, the teenager held the flame to the wood close enough to touch it. Slowly, the fuel ignited and flickers of yellow began to invade the bottommost of the pile to the top, dispersing light smoke into the air. The children looked in awe as the warmth from the bonfire touched their faces, its small yet majestic flame flickering in front of them put them in a trance. They clapped their hands and huddled to the earth to find a vacant seat. With a guitar handed to her by Esme, Miss Alice began serenading the children with traditional Halloween songs and stories. With that going on, Esme and company started with the minor cleaning and leftover food-packing. Some children, those who decided not to join Miss Alice's gathering, were going inside the orphanage and decided to retire after a long eventful day.

* * *

Walking through the main hall, the three tykes have left the party scene. Ventose had been yawning quite a lot, obviously bushed from all the excitement he had to endure for the night. Stifling another yawn, he excused himself to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water.

"What did you get from the barmbrack?" L inquired his remaining companion, his hands in his jeans pocket. He thought it would be quite awkward if the two of them walked in silence so he decided to ask whatever questions popped in his mind.

"A blue sandstone," Temi replied, the two of them strolling to the main staircase. "What did you get?"

Hesitating at first, he replied. "I got a silver locket."

"That's great," she spoke, later humming a song. "I wonder who got the ring this year."

The boy peered to her. He was the one who got the piece of jewelry but had decided to trade it to Ventose who had been yearning for it badly. "You're interested in the ring?"

Temi shook her head. "Not really. I just noticed that some kids were really anticipating to get it but I don't understand why. It's just a ring anyway."

"My sentiments, exactly," L agreed. "Then I don't suppose you know the old Irish tradition."

The little girl faced him questioningly. "Pray tell."

Knowing where the conversation was going, the black-haired lad shrugged the thought off but decided to tell her anyway. "Irish superstitions believe that one will find its true love if they found that ring in their barmbrack slice."

The girl giggled. "Superstitions, huh? I'm sure those things don't interest you one bit."

The little boy flashed a small timid smile, modestly but surely. "I'm certain that is true."

Passing by the lounge's open door, Ventose met with the pair again. Exhausted, the beanie boy bid good night to his companions before walking upstairs. Just before she could follow, Temi thought of something and pulled L by his arm, the two of them entering the lounge. She approached the piano, sitting on its chair, and patted on a vacant seat beside her, gesturing the boy to sit there. Once he had perched on the seat, Temi began playing the _'Happy Birthday'_ song, her fingers hitting each key precisely. Music filled the room as L observed her small fingers tapping on the piano keys. When she had finished the song, a small laugh trembled on her lips.

Reaching in her skirt pocket, she pulled out a milk chocolate bar and handed it to him. "I won this in a game earlier but I think you should have it. A gift from me."

Staring at it, the boy gently took the chocolate bar from her hands, between finger and thumb, and held it in front of him. "Thank you," said he.

Placing the candy on the piano's top board, he started taking something out from his jeans pocket himself. He held the Chupa Chups lollipop, the one he set aside earlier and held it to Temi, offering it to her. "Here. It's something I got from our walk to the Abbey Grounds."

"So that's where you've been all day," the girl took note of. "I've been thinking about that." She then set her eyes to the sucker before turning back to L. "Are you sure? I mean I know you really like sweets. You don't have to give it to me."

Giving her a stern look, he unwrapped the Chupa Chups and held it out to the girl again. "I insist."

Smiling at his persistence, the girl accepted the candy and placed it in her mouth. She rested her hands on one of the boy's knees while she stared at him, thinking. A small giggle she had been trying to hold escaped from her lips.

"What's so funny?" the black-haired boy asked, confused of her laughs.

The round lollipop bulged from her right cheek. "I've been thinking about what if you're the one who got the ring in the barmbrack."

L's forehead furrowed. "What is so funny about that?"

"I wonder who your true love could be."

"That's ridiculous," he commented. "How could that be funny?"

"Not at all." She smiled, trying to hold in her giggles. "I'm just curious if it's Ventose."

Upended, L held the Chupa Chups handle sticking out of her lips and pulled the candy out, placed it in his mouth and narrowed his questioning eyes at her. Temi stared back all the while, puzzled by his sudden reaction. A couple seconds of still silence passed by and Quillsh entered the room, seeing the two tykes inside.

"Good evening," he spoke, the children turning their heads to his direction. "I'm sorry to interrupt you two in the middle of your chat, but it is seven minutes to eight o'clock. It's about time to get you two in your respective rooms for bedtime."

Obediently, the girl nodded her head. "Yes, Mr. Wammy. Will do."

Upon getting off the piano chair, Temi then paced out of the room, L following not so far behind her. Finally reaching the door post, the girl bid good night to the boy and the founder before retreating to her room upstairs, leaving Quillsh and his young companion behind on their way to the boy's room.

Around 11:30 that night, the sound emanating from inside The Wammy's House was close to silence. The children had been tucked-in after a day of tiresome festivity, peacefully sleeping in their respective bedrooms. Of course, an exception from these tykes was none other than L, who did not exhibit the slightest sign of fatigue, staying up for the night as he usually did.

11:38 PM. Temi had fallen asleep about two hours ago when a small sensation disturbed her, like a hand lightly tapping her nonstop on the shoulder. Groggily waking up to see what it was, a shadow with a mess of black hair greeted her.

"Temi, wake up," the figure whispered to her ear.

She then slowly opened her heavy eyelids and caught sight of who it was. She was glad to see that it was just her friend, the birthday celebrant. Not that bad, she thought. It was just her friend who made his way into the room. It was just a male child in their bedroom, not that bad she thought. A boy in a girls' bedroom… _'A boy in a girls' bedroom?!'_

"Wha-what on earth?!" she yelped in surprise, audible to anyone's ears but not loud enough to wake up her sleeping roommates. For unintentionally making a ruckus, a hand briskly covered her mouth so she could not make any more noise which would further awaken the others.

Noticing a child shift in her sleep, L ducked his head to hide until the coast was clear. With his hand sliding off her mouth, he brought an index finger to his lips and shushed her.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered, trying to keep her voice down.

"There's something I want to show you," he whispered back. "I'm sure you'll be thrilled."

"Are you kidding? You know it's inappropriate for girls to go inside a boy's bedroom, right? The same thing goes to you boys. It's in the house rules, for goodness sake."

"It's only inappropriate if I got caught," the boy bargained. "Don't worry. I'll make sure both of us won't be."

Sitting up, she scratched her head and yawned. "And waking me up in the middle of the night too."

"I thought this would be the opportune time to invite you to my room, since neither of us would get scolded for going to each other's personal space."

"But you started it," she mumbled.

"Does that mean you accept my invitation?"

"If it will stop you from tapping on my shoulder, I guess I'll take it."

"Excellent."

L then stood up and held Temi by her wrist, pulling her out of the room with him. Struggling to get into her senses, the girl trailed behind him hesitantly, still trying to get a hold of what was going on.

* * *

Reaching his room, the boy immediately sat down in front of his computer and turned it on, his back to the door at the other side. Temi, who stood by the door, rubbed the sleep off her eyes and helped herself in. Peering to her, L could see her clearly in the light, with her white old-fashioned night gown on and her black wavy hair let down. It was a different image of her to him. He had never seen her worn anything different from her usual shirt and skirt, moreover with her hair let down. With that, L blushed slightly and turned his head back to his computer monitor.

Upon entering his room, walls of supercomputer system units and hundreds of cables welcomed the little girl. Her drowsiness dissipated immediately at the sight of them. Looking around, Temi could not help but be astonished. Never in her life had she seen such machines. She knew they existed in real life but she never knew they would be this big and this close to her, how fascinating they were.

Careful not to trip on any cables, the girl carefully stepped closer to her companion, lifting the hem of the nightgown to make way for her feet. "What are you doing?" she asked as she knelt beside him.

"I'm researching for different company stocks."

Perplexed, Temi began to ask more. "Company stocks? What for?"

"For some time now, I've been helping Mr. Wammy with his investments and expenditures," the boy explained. "Through this, I can help him accumulate enough funds."

"Funds?"

"One fund is for the daily expenses of this orphanage. The other separate fund is for assisting Mr. Wammy in establishing The Wammy Foundation, an organization dedicated to building orphanages around the world, similar to this very establishment."

"I see," she said, taking in all what L just said. "That's going to need a lot of money."

"Indeed. Mr. Wammy had been longing all his life for establishing this foundation. His funds are comprised mostly of his earnings from the patents of his many inventions. However, that would not be enough seeing that there's still more that have to be invested in." He then chewed on his thumbnail noisily. "Vacant lot payments, construction and maintenance costs, taxes, and wages are not the only factors that should be considered. Given that The Wammy Foundation aims for world-wide expansion, we're going to need plenty of funds to support it in achieving its goal."

"This is very nice of you to do this for him."

"But I'm not merely doing this for him," the boy countered. "I'm doing this because I'm bored. After seeing that there aren't much games nor puzzles left here that I can entertain myself with, I took the liberty of going to the next level and found out about this. It is a practical hobby and at the same time, it's enjoyable."

"You're enjoying yourself with money games?" the girl doubted. "Isn't that like gambling?"

"Of course. There will be times when you need to gamble in order to get expected positive results." L's toes scratched each other. "With careful consideration on the way, there is a great chance that you will get double or more of the wager that you placed."

Scratching her temple, she finally agreed. "It sounds fun anyway."

"Would you like to try it out for yourself?"

"I'd love to."

With the boy guiding her, the two made an initial inventory of feasible company stocks that L searched up. The two of them took turns in weighing the inventory items through debt and equity investments. They predicted the nature of stock prices through its supply and demand, its buyers and sellers, and through reading and studying stock quotes.

After scrutinizing each share in the list, the length of their initial inventory had been reduced to roughly a third, eliminating away the impractical ones. Reassessing it once more reduced the inventory further to a half. Upon finalizing it, L's printer buzzed and bleeped as a two-fold paper slid out, their final inventory inked on it.

It was 1:57 in the morning when they had finished, and Temi was getting tired. Letting out small yawns and sighs, she could feel her eyelids getting heavy. "Hey," she interrupted. "Could I go back to my room now? I'm not exactly used to staying up late like you do and I'm getting sleepy."

"I don't mind," he said then pointed to his bed. "But you can sleep comfortably on my bed over there."

"Oh," she groaned. "Really? I have to stay here all night with you?"

"You don't have to, but I don't think it would be advisable if I just let you go off to your bedroom in that condition."

"What condition?"

"Don't want you falling asleep on your way to your room," L explained. "Besides, I don't even use that bed at all."

"Really?" The girl sprang up. "Then what's the sense of putting a bed in here?"

"Mr. Wammy initially thought I would use it, but I never did. He never bothered to remove it but I didn't mind anyway," the boy explained.

Finally conceding, she sunnily stood up and walked to the bed, her bare feet touching the coldness of the tiled floor. She climbed up and sat on its edge, her feet suspending, then slumped back on the mattress. Feeling the bliss of lying down on an unused bed, she sighed. "Your bed is amazing. How come you never use it?"

"As long as I can get some rest, I don't need to be somewhere comfortable," he spoke while typing something on his computer keyboard. "It saves me time and effort."

"Come on." She sat up, kneeling on the bed to his direction. "You should give it a try. For me."

He glared apathetically at her appeals. Finally getting his consideration, L stood up and walked to her, his hands placed in his jeans pockets. He rested one foot on the mattress while his other foot stayed on the floor. "I'm here now, so what am I supposed to do?"

"Lie down, silly."

He coldly turned to the mattress, put both feet on it and lay down on his right side in fetal position, a thumb stuck on his mouth. "I still don't understand the whole point of this," he thought.

Frustrated, Temi tugged on one of his pillows and smacked him on the head. "No offense, but you're being a jerk again," she teased.

Thinking of a comeback, L took the pillow on his face and whacked her on the back. Frantically, she hid under his sheets, pulled on an unguarded pillow and thumped him on the head. The boy dove under the sheets and went after her, the two of them in mutual pursuit until the sea of sheets slowly calmed down. Warily, Temi raised her head out in the open, confused by the sudden silence and in search of her companion who quickly cloaked her from behind, tackling her without her knowing like a fish caught in a net. With the girl wriggling herself away from the boy's grip, the two tumbled and had themselves wrapped up in blankets.

L finally sat up, smiling and puffing about, pulling off the sheet that covered his face and shoulders as he calmed himself down. Temi lay back still, laughing as her fingers cleared her face of messed-up black hair. The boy inched to her as her laughter gradually receded into soft giggles. With his round black pupils staring right into the girl's eyes, he was drawing his face nearer and nearer, the same blank expression sketched all over it.

Just when their faces were a couple of inches apart, he whispered. "Call me Ryuzaki." He then briskly pulled himself up and walked back to his computer.

Confounded, Temi's gaze followed the boy as she sat up, feeling slight discomfort since he had never been that close (albeit literally) to her. "'Ryuzaki'?"

"Yes." The boy perched back in front of the computer monitor. "It's a Japanese name written with the Kanji characters 'ryuu (竜)' and 'zaki (崎)', which roughly means 'dragon peninsula'."

"That sounds nice," she complimented although questioning. "But why a Japanese name? And why 'dragon peninsula'?"

"It's Japanese because of my experience with Kanji while researching for company stocks. Most of the reliable investments I've found out were originally from Japan so I have sort of grown fond of the country," the boy explained. "As for the definition, I prefer that you find out why for yourself."

Temi sighed. "If you say so." Slumping back on L's bed, she rested her head on his pillow and lay down facing his direction, pulling the blanket up to her chin. "Good night then," she bid before closing her eyes. "Ryuzaki."

Minutes passed by and the girl slowly descended into deep slumber. L pulled out the chocolate bar she had given him earlier from his jeans pocket, unwrapping and chomping away small bites from it as he gazed from time to time to his sleeping companion.

4:46 in the morning. Seeing that it would be bright soon, L walked to the young girl sleeping soundly on his bed. He knew how strict the orphanage was with the house rules so it would be a problem, not only to him but also to the girl, once the authorities found out their illicit sleepover. Thinking quickly, he placed one of his arms under her knees, his other arm cradled her head, and lifted her from the bed. Threading carefully through the hallway, he carried her back to her room, wary of any passersby that might be a witness.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

* * *

Mid-November of 1991, a Friday. It was still autumn season but the air was beginning to take on a chilly turn. Old man winter was fast approaching.

That night, nine year-old L had been eating his dinner in Quillsh Wammy's office, a chocolate brownie ala mode topped with vanilla ice cream. From time to time, usually at night, L would decide where he wanted to eat, may it be in his room, in the office or in the kitchen depending on his senses. When he was busy, he would prefer to eat alone in his room. Otherwise, if he wanted to, he would be in the office sitting on one of Quillsh's guest chairs. If he needed a little more light on, he would eat alone in the kitchen. The last option had an advantage for him since he had nearby access to the refrigerator.

"I finally had one account settled, L," spoke Quillsh who just finished talking on the phone. The founder made separate bank accounts, one account per individual cooperating foreign stock, as means for the expansion of his orphanage. "It's about time I set up another orphanage in Scotland."

"Yes," the boy replied, scooping vanilla ice cream into his mouth. "At least with a nearby cooperative, we can monitor and travel to them with ease."

Though his eyes were set on the food in front of him, L could clearly see the old man smiling cheerily. He knew how glad his older companion was since he could finally begin establishing the foundation he had been yearning for all his life. Now that he had started it, there was no turning back.

"Mr. Wammy," the boy interrupted, instantly remembering something from back then. "Would it be alright if I ask you a favor?"

The old man, who was writing down on his journal, peered to him. "What is it?"

"How many copies of our individual photos do you have?"

"About several. Why do you ask?"

"Would it be alright if I ask for individual photos of two children?"

For a second, Quillsh was stunned. He knew it was his priority to keep the children's personal information a secret and from falling into other people's possession. Their names and other important data were all held only by Quillsh himself. Yes, he kept individual photos of the children but these were only used for his files. Also, they were for other important requirements they might need, specifically those that would be asked from them once they have graduated from The Wammy's House. He knew the photos were also sensitive documents yet L was asking for them anyway.

With a sigh, Quillsh asked in reassurance. "You do know that these photos are part of my confidential files. Am I right, L?"

"Yes," the boy said. "I know very well that no one else is allowed access to our files. Even I'm not an exception but I'm simply asking if you'd allow me to have access to a couple of photos."

Hesitating, Quillsh pondered about the situation. Of course he needed to know the boy's intention first before giving out the photos to him. He needed to find out what the photos were for after all. Trying to get a grip on the situation more, the old man granted his request, lightly balling his hand into a fist, and rested his chin on it. "You have your reasons. What are they for?"

Finishing his meal, L set the bowl aside and placed a thumb on his lip. "It may not sound convincing to you." With one hand reaching into his pants pockets, he pulled out a silver locket, holding it in the air by the chain in finger and thumb. "It's to fill this up."

The founder took the pendant from the boy's pinch and studied it sensibly. "This is a simple yet classic piece of jewelry," he admired. "Where did you get it?"

"From the Halloween party in a barmbrack slice," he deadpanned.

"I see." The man set down the pendant on his desk. "Whose photos would you want to be in it then?"

The boy pondered "I was thinking about Temi's." His cheeks blushed a hint of red. "Her birthday is fast approaching, it seems."

Quillsh smiled sincerely, understanding what their conversation was about. "So you do wanted to give her something for her birthday."

L turned his face to the side and pouted. "I guess it's just my way to make up for what she gave me."

The founder chuckled. "And I suppose I know whose photo is the other one." He opened one of his desk drawers and rummaged through his folders. Pulling out two ID-sized photos, he closed the drawer and placed the pictures in front of the little boy. One of them was a photo of Temi, the other was L's. "They're ones from just this year's photoshoot but I think this is accurate enough for your current ages."

"Yes," the boy agreed. "Thank you, Mr. Wammy."

"Would you want me to put them in the locket?"

"Please do so."

Quillsh took out a pencil, a piece of paper, and a pair of scissors from another drawer. He opened the locket and traced its photo frames with the pencil and paper, cutting the paper into two ovals. The man traced the ovals on the two photos, the shapes encircling from the top of the heads down to the shoulders. "Do you, by any chance, know her plans for her own birthday?"

"I'm not certain. I'm not fond of asking people about their plans."

"Do you have any plans then?"

"I don't have any. I was just thinking of giving her this locket."

"By the way-" The old man started cutting out one of the photos. "What did she give you on your birthday? If it's not too personal for me to ask."

The boy shook his head. "She gave me the chocolate bar she won in a contest."

"Well, she knew you liked eating sweets, right? That probably meant a lot to her."

"She probably just didn't have anything else to give me," the boy doubted. "I don't really know what her intention was for giving it to me but then, that also might be true."

"Let's see-" The old man placed Temi's photo in the right frame. "What is it that catches her attention?"

"She likes to read books," L explained. "She also told me once that she wanted to travel to places."

"A wanderer, I see," Quillsh commented, placing L's photo in the other frame. He knew Temi was also a curious child. She wanted to engorge herself in countless experiences. With these experiences, she would convert them into useful knowledge. _'That is how Temi's mind works,'_ he thought. Thinking, the man closed the finished locket and handed it back to the boy. "I know just what it is that will knock her off her feet."

The boy then gently took the locket from Quillsh's hand. "What is it?"

* * *

30th of November 1991, that Saturday afternoon. Looking out from the window, Quillsh watched buildings passed by as he and his celebrant companion rode a taxi cab for a several minutes-long drive. The little girl who sat beside him peered out to her own window, her feet up on the car seat and legs folded to her right. "Where are we going, Mr. Wammy?" she asked, her gloved hands resting on her thighs.

The old man smiled, eyes still fixed outside the window. "Where do you suppose?"

Temi hummed, her eyes set to the sky. "You did mention around Winchester College but I'm still not sure which part of it."

"Tell me," he inquired, turning to face her. "What is it that you most enjoy in life?"

She flashed him her cheery smile. "I'm really fond of books."

"Just like what your friend told me," he thought, rubbing the stub on his chin.

"He must have told you about it somehow."

"Yes. Although I have subtly observed that myself, I still needed confirmation."

She stared at him intriguingly. "Confirmation? For what?"

The old man chuckled. "You'll know soon enough. Just you wait."

The clock ticked time away as the taxi passed by roads and establishments. Soon, Quillsh ordered the cabbie to stop at a vacant unloading spot and paid him. They were several blocks away from College Street, based from what his young companion could see from the nearest street sign by the corner. The old man stepped out of the car and reached his hand to Temi to help her out. With the cab driving away, the two walked on the pavement, the little girl holding onto the founder's hand. After walking a few blocks, they stopped in front of what appeared to be an antiquarian establishment. _'P &G Wells'_ was written on its wooden header board in white vintage lettering. Upon knowing what it was, the girl gasped in awe as line upon line of assorted books displayed through its glass window caught her eye.

Delighted, she asked. "A book shop?"

The old man nodded. "Happy birthday, Temi," he said pulling the glass door open and gestured the young girl to go inside. Overwhelmed, she scurried inside the shop with a huge smile on her face, dashing to the store directory. After searching through the books inventory, the girl trailed off to the 'Fiction' section. Letting the young one be, Quillsh took a seat by the café lounge, selecting from the stack of books available for guest reading. Less than an hour later, the girl ran to him and showed two hard-bound books she held in her hands.

"You're done choosing? I thought it might've taken you a more time," he chuckled, closing the book he was reading and placing it back on the coffee table.

"Not at all," the girl smiled. "I already had a fine idea of which books I should get."

Quillsh took the books from the child's hands and scanned them. One was _'A Study in Scarlet'_ and the other was _'The Sign of Four'_. Both of which were works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. "I see you're really immersed in the 'Mystery' genre. Sherlock Holmes, indeed. Are you sure these are all you're going to check out? I know there were supposed to be four of Doyle's works."

Temi nodded. "I'm already fine with just two for now, Mr. Wammy. I still have a lot of reading to do."

The old man stood up, carrying Temi's books, and walked to the counter while the girl helped herself to a seat. Returning, the old man walked to their table with the books packed in a brown paper bag, a receipt taped on it, and sat back on where he was previously seated. A while later, a store staff approached them, carrying a tray of hot drinks and sponge cakes. Sincerely, she set the cups and plates on the table, nodded then walked away.

Holding on the cup of hot chocolate, the girl spoke. "This is very nice of you to take me all the way here, Mr. Wammy."

"I thought it would be a great idea to bring you here since you like to read books and all. Also, I remember your friend telling me about the times you helped him with my business. I have no knowledge of that but I am definitely impressed. I suppose this is my way of saying thank you."

She laughed. "It's nothing, but if there is anyone that should be thanked here, it should be you."

Quillsh smiled back, holding a cup of Earl Grey tea to his mouth. "I appreciate that, my dear."

"Mr. Wammy, can we have a stroll on the way home?" she requested, grabbing on a piece of sponge cake. "I would really like to pass by the Abbey Gardens."

"Of course. It isn't far from here and we can get to breathe some fresh air on our way," he agreed. "With a quick rest at the Gardens, we should be able to go home without even riding a taxi. To be honest, we could have just strolled from the orphanage all the way here since they're all just near each other after all."

"Then why did we have to take the taxi?"

He chuckled. "I thought it was necessary that you use your energy once we have arrived here instead of using it all on walking. It's still quite a long walk though. Besides, I know how thrilled you are to go out of the orphanage for once in a while. I didn't want to tire you out so early."

The girl laughed once more. "Thank you, Mr. Wammy."

Finishing their snacks, the pair left the shop and walked out of College Street to St. Swithun all the way to Symonds. Right at the corner of The Square, the park could be seen with children frolicking in the play area. Temi stared at them, hoping she could join in their game. Seeing how enticed his companion was, he gently tightened his grip on her hand which made her turn to face him. With a warm smile, he nodded to her to go and play. At that, the girl nodded back at him and ran to the kids, all of them playing a small game of hide and seek. Temi then turned to face the ladder of a playground slide and counted to ten slowly as her playmates frolicked to find a good hiding spot.

Finished with counting, she searched for her companions and upon finding them, ran to home base, their game continuing on with a different seeker. About an hour later, she returned to Quillsh who was seated on a park bench, watching over her from afar. The child sat beside him and rested, wiping a bit of sweat on her forehead with her coat sleeve, and stared at a nearby bare oak tree.

"It's going to be winter soon," she observed.

"Yes. It's going to be incredibly cold again."

She nodded in agreement. "Winter is great."

"Why do you think so?"

"Because of how it is, Mr. Wammy," she explained. "It is appreciated but underappreciated at the same time. It's not quite as lovely as autumn but still, what is spring without winter? What is summer without spring? What is autumn without summer? At one point or another, people will realize the importance that one event that will arise to another. The seasons don't just change with magic, you know?"

"Does that mean you also think the other seasons are great too?"

"Yes," she answered. "I think they're all wonderful."

"Does the same apply to people?" Quillsh queried.

"I'm afraid so."

"Then you tend to be impartial with people too, I see." He stared down at the bag of books on his lap. _'Sherlock Holmes,'_ he thought. "I think you might become a great detective like Mr. Holmes once you're all grown up."

She giggled, tucking strands of stray hair behind her ear. "That's very nice of you to say." Passing the time away, the two watched the slow sunset, the sky turning from rich yellow into a mix of orange and a hint of the night sky. Minutes passed by when Temi finally decided to break the silence. "Should we be going back now?"

The old man peered to his pocket watch. 5:27 PM. "You're right," he seconded. "It's getting late. We should be able to reach home before night falls."

* * *

Quillsh and Temi had arrived back in The Wammy's House at what is short of nine minutes to six o'clock. Carrying the package of books in her hands, the little girl thanked the old man once more. After he had given her a light pet on the head, she excused herself and went out of the office.

On her way to the staircase and passing by the lounge, she could hear small individual notes coming from the upright piano. _'Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting,'_ it went, but she recognized what the song was. It was the instrumental of _'Heart and Soul'_. She could distinguish that pattern anywhere even when the notes were played without the main accompaniment, not to mention shoddily performed. Curious, she let herself in, surprised to see that her black-haired friend was inside.

' _Ryuzaki,'_ she thought. She had adjusted herself to calling him that since the time he requested her to. Unhesitant, she walked to the boy who was perched on the piano chair and pressing the piano keys, one note at a time solely with his index finger. With a sheet music placed in front of him, he bit harder on his thumb as he progressed through each note. Noticing the little girl standing beside him, he paused from playing and spoke.

"I studied this last night. According to my research, this was the best beginner's piece I could practice with," L explained, seeing her by the corner of his eye.

Delighted, the girl smiled. She took a seat beside him, placed the books on the piano top and began playing the piano accompaniment herself. Reading where she was on the sheet music, the boy joined in and played the instrumental bit that he had been playing earlier. Halfway to the end, the girl could not help but snicker at the gladness she was in.

"I knew you would study piano eventually."

"I thought it was necessary since I don't have anything else to give you on your birthday," he replied. "I thought showing you that I can also somehow learn to play the piano was good enough to be considered a gift."

Flattered, Temi embraced one of his arms, hugging him tightly. With one of her cheeks pressed on him, L's face slightly blushed pink. He stared at her, perplexed by her warm friendly gesture. He felt a sense of discomfort at first but it immediately died out, understanding why so. That was the first hug (if it were to be considered as one) that he ever got from another child, a girl at that, and she was just the right person to give it to him. That was as far as he can comprehend, but he also knew that he felt happy though he did not understand why nor would he ever want to. Knowing himself, he was good at keeping his sentiments in place, and sure of himself, not a small cuddle should be able to move him. Therefore, he should continue doing that, he thought. No, he _must_ continue doing that.

Letting go of him, the girl turned to her books and held it in front of the boy, a cheery smile painted on her face. "I already thanked Mr. Wammy for these but I guess I should thank you too."

L's thumb played with his lip. "I suppose you can't wait to read them then," he commented.

"I can actually," she giggled. "It's just that I wanted to thank you first before I could open it."

"You can thank me whenever you want, but I think I should give you some alone time with your books."

With that said, the girl gave him one more embrace, one which her arms encircled his shoulders. This time, L shakily lifted his arms and placed them around Temi's waist. He did not want to embrace her back fearing that he might hurt her. Instead, he let the girl pull him closer and hug him as much as she wanted. In return, he just buried his nose on her left shoulder and naturally breathed in her scent.

"Thank you, Ryuzaki," the girl spoke as she pulled herself away from him, standing up then walking out of the room.

As the only one left in the lounge, L continued playing the individual notes of the song and pondered. Thinking, he began to speculate if he really did everything out of sentiment, that maybe he had been developing feelings for her. But then he made it clear in his mind and to Quillsh that he did it simply as compensation for what the girl gave him for his birthday. However, for all L knew, that was not the only reason why he did it. He knew there was another motivation for his actions.

But then, emotions would never catch his interest, as Temi noted before. And even if the girl did question the reason behind his actions, he questioned himself. _'Would it even matter if she knew?'_

A while later, the orphanage's founder went inside the lounge and joined him. "It was indeed the perfect surprise for Temi," the founder spoke from behind the lad.

"Thank you cooperating, Mr. Wammy," he replied, his index finger continuously pressing on piano keys. "Has she seen it yet?"

"Not yet, L." The old man smiled. "But soon enough."

* * *

Finally entering her bedroom, Temi climbed atop her bed at the bottom bunk and set the paper bag down before getting herself settled. One of her roommates, a girl on the bunk bed above hers, caught eye of her and asked. "Hey, where have you been, Temi? I was afraid you won't make it to dinnertime."

"I didn't mean to worry you," the brunette replied, trying her best to explain. "But Mr. Wammy wanted me to assist him with something."

"With what?" asked a Japanese child sitting on the opposite top bunk. "I know he usually asks that weird black-haired kid to help him with things. Why not ask him?"

"Kimiko, it's alright," she smiled. "I don't mind at all."

The girl huffed. "As long as both of you don't mind, then fine," she dismissed, never even bothering to look at her companions since she was heavily immersed in reading a medicinal booklet.

The brunette shrugged the thought away and turned to her paper bag. She gently peeled off the adhesive tape until the bag's opening flap was released. She pulled out the two books when something else fell on her mattress. It was a blue box the size of a small Cadbury Dairy Milk bar.

Knowing that she did not grab anything else other than the pair of books, she held the box and stared at it questioningly. Opening it revealed a silver oval-shaped locket resting on dark blue felt. Surprised, she took out the necklace and held it by its chain. Her eyes glimmered at it, her hands searched where the pendant's opening was. She folded the locket out to reveal photos of two children. Recognizing who they were, she blushed.

For her, she just could not find the intelligible words that would explain what she was feeling at the time. All she knew was that it just made her extremely happy. With that, she held the necklace close to her heart as a smile made its way to her face.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

* * *

Quillsh Wammy's assets had almost reached twenty thousand times its original amount, all thanks to L's unfaltering efforts. As time progressed, The Wammy Foundation had been gradually expanding to all six continents, building and establishing unique orphanages in each country. Because of this, the founder had become an important and successful business figure, working both as the CEO of his foundation and as a prolific inventor at the same time. He was earning enough funds to make his foundation stronger, more capable as he had hoped it should be, being able to create orphanages that were just as unique as his own.

Mid-August of 1992, a Saturday. That summer night, Quillsh chatted while he listened to eight year-old Temi playing the piano in the lounge. They had been in the room since that afternoon. Just as the girl was about finished with her recital, a knock on the lounge's open door interrupted her. Turning to where the sound came from, the two set their sights on a familiar blond boy creeping behind the door post.

"What is it, Clem?" Quillsh inquired.

"Good evening, Mr. Wammy," he peeped, a somber look on his face. "Would it be alright if I talk to you at a time like this?"

The old man smiled. "Of course it is. I just hope my companion won't mind," he said, referring to the young one with him.

"Not at all," she greeted, a warm smile on her face and a silver locket dangling beneath her shirt collar. "Am I supposed to leave?"

The man shrugged. "If you want to but I don't see what wrong it would do if you just stayed and listened."

Known as the all-around jock of Wammy's, Clem was admired by his comrades for his generosity despite his superiority complex coming to a close second place in his soul. To the kids in The Wammy's House, he acted as the prideful big brother, the one that made the playground rules not entirely for his own sake, but because he thought it was the right thing to do so that everyone would get along well. But he was also just a human child, he had his weaknesses. He was grounded, and was in desperate need of approval. If the situation called for it, he would leave his principles behind just so he could earn the favor of his supporting comrades, hence the bullying and the newbie crushing. He knew it was wrong in the first place but he himself never once did any harm to a child. He would just let the other boys do their business and have them be the ones responsible for whatever mischief they might have caused.

That was prior to meeting L, and the younger child shocked him when they first met. He never even lay a finger on the boy and that was a fact. It was true that he was among the multitude of roughhousing children, simply being there as a spectator. It then became apparent how he got caught up in the mess. And that incident upset him for days to come since then. L's face was burned at the back of his mind and he fumed irately each time the thought of the child popped in his head. For being kicked in the stomach? Perhaps, but it was mainly because he got undeservingly kicked for something he did not do. But maybe he deserved it for making the mistake of letting his pals 'pet' him in the first place?

Quickly, Clem shrugged the thought away and let his pride decide for him. For now, he was talking to the most respected figure within the orphanage walls. Letting his pride down, he helped himself to a couch and sat beside the founder. The little girl, on the other hand, scooted on the other side of the founder, kneeling a bit on the couch.

"Alright, young one," he insisted. "We're here to listen."

The boy sighed. "I was thinking maybe I should join the military academy," he began while the two people listened intently. "Since I'm turning thirteen this coming Thursday, I guess it's about time I think about what I should be for my future. I know it's in the house rules that kids can leave this place once we've have turned around fifteen or something so I've decided where I should start off with."

"But is this what you really want to be?" Quillsh asked.

"Yes, sir," he replied. His eyes glimmered at the thought. "I always wanted to be a soldier once I've grown up, serving and fighting for people and stuff like that. I've seen my dad do that before when I was just about ye-seven, and I've always looked up to him very highly because of that."

The founder thought. "I don't see why not. You have an exemplary build, strong immunity, and I suppose good character. In short, you'll do nicely for the military."

"But my main concern is... Would that be alright with you?" he hesitantly asked.

"Would that be alright with me?" the old man repeated. Pondering, he stroked his white mustache thoughtfully. "Clem, if you asked me to pick berries for you and I returned with strawberries in my pockets, would that be alright with you?"

"It depends on the situation," Clem considered. "But they're just berries. They're all the same to me."

"Strawberries aren't actually berries, Clem," in jest, Temi informed.

"Oh."

Quillsh smiled. "The same thought as mine. It's completely alright, my child," he comforted. "Whatever decisions you want to make in your life, I'd support you no matter what."

"Same here," Temi agreed.

"And don't worry about a thing," he followed up. "You still have about two years left of stay here. Don't let your remaining days wallow you down. You're supposed to be preparing, as to what a real soldier would do," Quillsh finalized then gave him a friendly salute.

At that moment, the boy's spirits were raised. Slightly teary-eyed, the confident blond finally smiled and saluted back. He then turned to the little girl who sat on the other side of the man to see her also saluting back at him.

* * *

Night of December 1994. Trying to warm himself up, Ventose clutched on his arms and briskly rubbed them with his hands. He already had his green sweater on as well as his black beanie which he wore on a daily basis, and the orphanage's thermostat was working in tip-top shape, but the child still felt shivers from the cold. He then decided to go to the kitchen and, while on his way, thought if he should make himself some tea or hot chocolate.

Entering the kitchen, he was just surprised to see his black-haired colleague inside, perched on a chair and scooping vanilla ice cream into his mouth. "Esme wasn't here so I helped myself to a snack," L spoke upon noticing the brown-haired lad by the door.

Bewildered, the beanie boy studied him. "You're eating ice cream in winter."

"I don't see what's wrong with that."

"You might catch a cold," fretted Ventose. "The weather's already freezing and you're still scooping up icy stuff into your throat."

"The ventilation system in the orphanage is actually decent and reliable," L confidently explained. "The thermostat we're using is semi-automatic, changing the room's temperature until it is approximate to equilibrium. That way, the cold could hardly enter the establishment even if a blizzard happen to fall in Winchester, England which I highly doubt would happen at a time like this since the winter season had just started." He then scooped up an overflowing amount of ice cream with his spoon and held it to the beanie boy. "Do you want some?"

"No, thanks," he briskly declined, walking to the counter where the water heater was. "I think I'm having hot chocolate."

"Suit yourself," L sighed, placing the mountain of ice cream in his mouth.

Upon filling up and turning on the heater, the boy turned to his companion. "Don't you get yourself brain freeze for doing that?"

"Actually, there's a trick in eating ice cream," the black-haired boy explained, holding a spoon of ice cream in the air for material demonstration. "The idea is to introduce the cold substance gradually into your mouth until it's used to the cold. I found out about this years ago."

"That makes sense. You know how brain freeze happens?"

He fed the cold dessert to himself and mumbled. "I've had brain freeze many times before so I suppose I'd be a bit glad if you enlightened me."

"When you eat or drink something cold really fast, this rapidly changes the temperature at the back of the throat," Ventose explained, his companion listening to him while noisily feeding on sherbet. "Located here is the internal carotoid artery which delivers blood to the brain. Its end is covered by the meninges which is also the outer covering of the brain and once the cold reaches this, it causes the carotoid arteries to dilate. The sensations that the contracting arteries gave off are what the brain interprets as pain, hence the sensation called brain freeze." He switched off the water heater and cut open a sachet of instant hot chocolate mix. "It probably don't mean crap to you but it's incredibly interesting to me. I've read it in a journal somewhere in the library from before. So it's human anatomy at work after all, huh?"

"Not crap at all, I completely get it. But then, I'm not the one who's aspiring to get a medical degree when I've grown older," the black-haired boy said confidently of his companion, pointing an empty spoon to him. "So I leave the rest to you."

"Yeah, about that-" Taking his mug from the cups cabinet, Ventose poured in the instant hot chocolate mixture. He then slowly poured in hot water into the mug next, stirring up the contents while doing so. Grabbing the mug by its handle, he made his way to a chair on the opposite side of the table where L was seated, sitting across where the boy was. "I might be leaving Wammy's soon. Probably when I turn thirteen."

"When is that?"

"Fifth of May next year." He lifted his mug to his lips to carefully sip on the hot beverage. "I told Mr. Wammy that I was thinking of going to secondary school and then continue to higher education until I earn a medical degree."

Although known to all, The Wammy's House had a rule that a child raised in the establishment can leave as soon as they have turned fifteen, given that they were accompanied by adults who have volunteered to be their guardians. But if the child has already decided which career they want to take, then the rule may be an exception and they can leave at an earlier age but would still be accompanied by responsible adults. Even Quillsh and his colleagues could volunteer to be their attending guardians. Ventose knew about this and was hoping to have Roger Ruvie as his keeper. With the man's experience with animal biology and great interest in entomology, he would be a good mentor to the young boy.

"That's impressive." Just when a thought entered his mind, L advised. "I just hope you won't make do like Roma."

"...Yeah," Ventose agreed, unhappily looking down on his remaining hot chocolate. Earlier that year, the red-haired lass left the orphanage with no form of explanation available. For what the orphanage's dwellers knew, she just stopped appearing before them and went out of sight.

"Does anyone know why she left?" asked the brunet.

"No info whatsoever." The beanie boy drew the mug to his lips and sipped on the hot beverage once more.

"I even brought that up to Mr. Wammy this morning while he was cutting my hair."

Unimpressed with his statement, Ventose peered to L's black locks. From the looks of it, it was just the same length and style the kid had every day since Ventose first met him. It was like he never had a single haircut all his life because his hair always looked that way.

"Mr. Wammy cuts your hair, I see," he meekly commented.

"Yes, but that's not what I wanted to talk about," his companion rebuffed. "It's just that the motive behind her actions is very unclear, even to Mr. Wammy. He was not informed of her plans before moving out like what she just did."

Keenly, the brown-haired child thought of a proposal. "Shall we brainstorm it out then?"

"I'm way ahead of you," he agreed. "What assumptions do you have so far?"

Thumping a finger on his chin, Ventose thought. "I have an idea what day she might have left but it's apparent that she left at an unknown time since she didn't notify anyone within the orphanage. The best possible time would be early morning at that day since she didn't join us then at lunchtime which is very not like her." The beanie boy shrugged. "My guess would be anxiety for getting closer to the day of her graduation. She's already thirteen at the time anyway. Or maybe because she wanted to prepare herself and thought of leaving prior to her graduation?"

"Those are a possible assumptions, but I still don't understand why she didn't notify anyone about it." Pondering, L fed the melting ice cream to himself. "In that situation, it's most likely because she has no plans of ever returning here. If that's the case, it's still unclear to me why she had to go to such lengths. She didn't even say what feasible career she was going to take which would help support herself eventually."

"How about your assumptions?"

The boy sighed. "Knowing something about her, I think Roma wanted to make a point of her own that she can leave this place when and how she wanted to."

"But that's just silly. She's just thirteen."

The brunet took a spoonful of ice cream and held it in the air. "She does have a rebellious side which she kept hidden very well from everyone so I suppose that was what ignited her to do it."

"Huh," the brown-haired lad huffed. "Well, she hid it very well because even I've no clue of that. I'm amazed that you noticed it even before any of us did."

"Temi knew of that as well," the black-haired child informed, placing the spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. "But what concerns me is that Roma didn't even bother to have an adult accompany her, and that is not advisable here in England. Minors aren't allowed to roam freely without any form of consent from their guardians after all."

"I just hope she knows what she's up to," Ventose wondered, drinking up the rest of his beverage.

"But she's Roma. I'm sure she somehow has an idea of what she is doing."

"I guess you're right." The boy breathed deeply through his nose, deciding to change the course of their conversation. "Still, you can't help but think about what's going to happen to us once we've gone our separate ways. I mean pretty soon I'll be leaving, just like what I told you before. Then after me, either you or Ether, or even Temi will follow through, whoever among you three goes first."

"The thought is nail-biting. I have not even started thinking what career I should get."

"Does it bother you?"

"Not at all, but it bothers you?" L questioned back.

"Slightly, yeah. Maybe because I've been cooped up in here for so long that I think I've already forgotten what it's like to be back out there."

"I see, and I understand your case," the black-haired boy empathized. "But in all modesty, the thought doesn't bother me at all. I'm certain it will all turn out fine so don't worry much about it." With that said, he turned his attention to the remaining ice cream in front of him and continued feasting on the half-melted dessert.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

* * *

"Hey, hurry up," urged a short-haired lass who had just finished buttoning up her navy blue school jacket, briskly grabbing onto her schoolbag. "The headmistress said there's going to be an important announcement."

8th of September 1995, a Friday, the last day of the first school week in England. It had been an extremely busy week for the students as requirements welcomed them upon their arrival in the campus. Not to mention physical education classes, clubs, and sports teams were hurriedly recruiting new members for the school year.

"Yeah, sure. I'm almost done," replied a black-haired child, the lass's companion at that, untying her sneakers then stowing them inside her locker. She stepped in her black Mary Janes while she hastily put on her school jacket and not even bothered to button it up, a small insignia pinned on the jacket's left collar. It was the insignia of the school they were attending in, a distinguished independent all-girls boarding academy. She pulled out a leather backpack from her locker and closed it abruptly. "Come on," she spoke once more. "What do you suppose it is, Nicola?"

"Dunno," the girl replied, the two of them walking to their destination. "She just said it's important."

"What could be more important than P.E.?"

"Probably the annual sports fest," she sighed. The brunette tilted her head to face her. "That's what I was thinking anyway."

Arriving at the main hall, the two paused in a crowd of students and met their colleagues there, all wearing the school uniform in their own unique ways. "Any idea why Miss Roberts called on us?" inquired one of them.

"None whatsoever," Nicola shrugged.

By then, the announcement tone jingled from the loudspeakers and a feminine voice began. "Good afternoon, girls." Apparently, it was not the headmistress speaking, but the head coach who took the opportunity to grab Miss Robert's microphone at that moment. "As you all know, the British Junior championship is nearing once more and you know what that means?" Upon her query, the hallway was silent for a long second before she could continue. "That's right. Soon, we will be holding the academy's sports fest as well."

Annually, the academy hosted a sports festival for its promising students. They kept the date of the event fairly accurate to when the British Junior championship was held for consistent scheduling. Murmurs among the girls filled the hallway upon hearing the news. Some were whispering about how thrilled they were. Others groaned from just the thought of the event. It then became apparent that there were students who were not big sports fanatics compared to others but then, not everyone was interested in the field of sports.

"So _that_ was what she's all hyped up about," a student tastelessly whispered to her companion, referring to the coach's excessive eagerness.

For all the black-haired girl knew, Nicola was greatly fascinated in one of the hosted sports: tennis. It was sport she fancied best and the brunette took note of how high up in the clouds the blonde was whenever the topic of tennis came into mind.

The head coach resumed. "The registration begins next week so I encourage interested students to start considering by now if you want to join. Eliminations for each sports category take place around mid-October. You all will have plenty of time to prepare by then so that by the transition to November, we will already have the finals. The enlistment procedure, important dates and details will be posted around campus bulletin boards. For inquiries, you may approach me in my office. Good luck, girls." With that, she finally hung up the microphone.

"What do you know?" spoke Nicola, flipping her soft dandelion locks in the air. "I was right after all."

"Yeah, well-" her companion replied as they walked away from the crowd. "You're really interested in sports so I guess you're somehow informed of the game schedules."

"I'm only interested in the tennis matches, but you bet I am," she beamed.

"Hey, how about you compete for this year?" the brunette suggested, the two of them entering the campus' wide open field. "There's nothing bad with a freshman going all out in an intercampus competition."

Nicola frowned. "I don't know. I can play the sport but I'm not sure if I will compete well here."

"You did say that you played before when you were younger and that you were a champion then. And I'm sure you'll do well like anyone else. What could go wrong here?"

"I need to train, girl. It's been months since I last played a decent match."

"You have around five weeks to prepare. Isn't that enough?"

Pursing her lips, Nicola tilted her head to the afternoon sky and calculated. "I guess that will suffice, although I do need a trainer."

"That's the spirit!" the brunette encouraged, placing her clenched fists in front of her. "And I'm sure you can still play incredibly great, so there's a high chance you'll even make it to the finals."

"Don't get your hopes up," ceased the blonde. "Still have to go through that darn registration procedure."

"That won't be problem to you now, won't it?"

"Maybe so," she impishly replied. "Well, now that class is over, how about we head to our local? I'll buy cheeseburgers which Amy and Gina would be so jealous of. They would come crying to me like 'We'll go with you two next time' then beg me to treat them to some milkshakes.'"

"I'd be really glad to, but I can't."

"Eh? You're on a diet?"

"That's not it," she snickered. "I just made a promise that I would visit someone on Fridays, right after school ends."

"A sick relative or something?" she asked which the brunette shook her head in denial. "You're related then."

With hesitation, she answered. "In a way, yes."

Snapping her fingers, Nicola jested, one of her eyebrows raised to her companion. "I see, it's your boyfriend you're going to visit, isn't it?" she teased. "I get it because it's been a while since you've been out of the campus grounds."

"What, no!" Blushing, the girl disagreed, frantically waving her hands in front of the blonde. "Whoever told you that?"

Laughing, Nicola gently elbowed her by the arm. "Anyway, let me walk you to the campus gate. It's the least I could do."

* * *

Getting off the taxi, the girl paid the cabbie before walking away. Soon, she had arrived in what was short of a pavement to The Wammy's House, the orphanage she had cherished ever since first stepping inside it. She walked around its brass fencing where she could clearly see the backyard, the huge holly oak stood there still. She sighed, nostalgic of the times she spent with her childhood friends and with the orphanage's founder, Quillsh Wammy whom she looked up to with such great respect and appreciation. She remembered the time spent with him, the man who acted as someone like a father to her all the while.

Coming out through the kitchen back door, an adolescent boy approached her, his hands planted deeply in his pockets. Wearing the habitual white long-sleeved shirt and denim jeans, his black leaden eyes studied the girl. "You're twenty minutes later than your schedule," he remarked. His monotonous voice had matured slightly, the product of puberty and hormones working on him. Shortly after the girl left the orphanage, she informed him of her schedule that he would know when she would arrive.

"I'm sorry, Ryuzaki," she apologized. "It's just that there was an announcement right after gym class."

Shrugging, he paced to where the main gate was, the girl following right behind him through the other side of the fence. "Come inside and tell me all about it."

L never changed a bit, with the exemption of a slight pastier complexion and a slender increase in height. He was almost turning thirteen after all. To Temi, he was still the same messy-haired kid from back then.

For L, the girl never changed a bit. Maybe she grew a bit taller (but was still shorter than him nonetheless) and had a drastic change in clothes. Her school was strict with their uniforms, leaving her no choice but to abide by the campus rules. The silver locket that always dangled around her neck caught his attention. "You're still wearing the locket I gave you, I see."

"Of course. Don't you want me to wear it?"

Approaching the gate, L pulled on the gate handle. "I never said anything about that."

She laughed. "I was just asking you. You might be wary that I've been meeting people and you don't even know who they are then out of the blue, someone just might say what a nice locket it is and would ask me to let them see it."

"You can simply say I'm your brother or something if ever they ask who I was," he flatly suggested as the gate was dragged open. "I think that's convincing enough to throw off their suspicions about me though I doubt they won't find any biological links between us."

The girl then stepped into the orphanage grounds, closing the gate behind her. While the two of them strolled to the old holly oak, the black-haired lad continued to chat her up. "I assume that your colleagues call you by a different name from your real one."

She nodded. "Mr. Wilkes took care of that but I told them to call me Temi anyway. I'm sort of used to being called that." Reaching the tree, L sat in his usual crouch as the girl sat beside him, her legs folded to her left as always. "Did you miss me?"

"It's only been five days since you left," he dismissively commented. "I suppose I got used to seeing you almost every day back then that I should get used to not seeing you at all."

"Oh," she pouted. "But I did make a promise that I'll visit you on Fridays."

The boy brought a finger to his lip, a habit he did whenever he was in deep thought. "There might come a Friday when you won't be able to drop by. For instance, you might call in sick or you would be too busy with your school work."

"Not that you're hoping I would get sick or be down with piles of school work of course," she suggested uneasily.

"Of course not. I'm only considering the possibilities." L gazed to the orange sky before turning to face her. "If that were to happen, I would probably be concerned and I guess a bit worried."

She stared at him with questioning eyes. "You'll be worried?"

"I would be hoping that you'll recover from your illness soon," he explained. "Or that you'll accomplish your tasks with ease. It's better to think of it that way than to say you never bothered to visit me at all. That'd be irrational of me, not to mention selfish."

Smiling, the girl approved. "That's very considerate of you, Ryuzaki."

Chewing loudly on his fingernail, he seconded. "I'm merely looking at the logical side of things like you do." From the corner of his eye, he could clearly see the ten year-old girl, the slightest tint of red on her cheeks were visible to his eyes. Shifting to a different conversation topic, he asked. "How was your week?"

She hummed, thinking of how to put it for him. "There were so many contact information forms we filled in. Then there's the note-taking, the orientations, the homework," she enumerated one by one with her fingers. "And we got to choose clubs we want to join in."

"Which ones did you get?"

"I went for the music club. I figured it's a way to sharpen my music skills alongside my academics."

"I see. It's a suggestible way to kill time. Not that I have anything against it," he remarked which the girl gave a small pout to. "By the way, what was your headmistress' announcement that must be so important?"

"Oh yeah," she recalled, snapping her fingers at the thought. "It was an advanced directing for the upcoming sports week."

With his eyebrows curled, he looked at her, doubtfully _and_ unenthusiastically. "That's important?"

"It may not impress you but if you're a sports fanatic, that news was meant to knock you off of your socks."

"But I'm not a sports fanatic," he informed. "And I don't even wear socks. I disdain just the thought of them."

"Whatever your reason is, you know well I could care less." Thinking, she placed an elbow on her knee and rested her chin on her fist. Remembering Nicola, she smiled at the thought of the blonde containing in her zeal when the word 'sports' reached her ears. Recalling, the girl slowly broke into soft giggles, not noticing that she had been laughing out loud all the time.

With slight curiosity about her amusement, L patted her gently on the back. "Are you alright?"

When her laughter ceased, she nodded and assured him that she was indeed fine.

"What are you laughing at?"

"I just thought about a classmate of mine," she explained, wiping a small tear from her eye. "She's just so eager when it comes to sports. It's contagious."

"She makes you interested in sports too?"

Temi shook her head. "Not really. It's her enthusiasm that gets me every time and because of that, I can't help myself but support her for it. Her feeling good about sports makes me feel good too in a way." She smiled wistfully. "It doesn't make me as interested in sports as she is but it makes me glad. That's it, it makes me happy for her."

"I see." Reflecting, the boy studied the girl while she was not aware of it. He could see on her face what had left a huge mark in his memory, from when he first appreciated the happiness of a child around his age. It sounded silly to him but he could not help and want that blissful curve to never leave the girl's lips, and he wanted to see more of it. Coming to a decision, he spoke. "Interesting. I might as well look into the sport she's interested in."

"Wait," she halted, sitting up to look at him straight. "You're suddenly taking an interest in tennis?"

"Tennis, huh?" L's toes scratched each other noisily at the thought. "I'm merely saying that the sport interests me and I suppose I should look it up."

"Oh. I see," she sighed. "For a second there, I thought you're actually going to play."

"I might even think of playing the sport eventually, if that's what you're looking forward to." Sternly, he brought his face close to her and figured. "Don't deny it."

"I'm not denying anything," she countered, her neck pulling her face away from the closeness of his. "I just simply thought you would and I admit-" Her eyes turned to her skirt, her fingers uneasily fiddling with its pleat. "I would actually love to see you play as well."

"Is that so?" he questioned, much to his amusement which he held in by instinct.

* * *

True to his words, the boy researched about the mentioned game, the game of tennis, how it worked and what the mechanics were. He wanted to know for himself what contagious enthusiasm the girl was glad about, that was all the excuse he could make at the time. That was in contradiction to what his subconscious wanted to point out, that he probably wanted to make her glad in the same way as her classmate did. That would be nice, he thought. Feeling his mind swimming in unnecessary ideas, he shook his head and instead focused on the reasonable benefits he could get.

Engaging in the sport would give him the opportunity to get out in the open every once in a while. It could get incredibly boring inside the orphanage's premises and he supposed a small sporty hobby would not do him much harm. After careful consideration (and research still), he decided to give playing the sport a go.

The next day, L informed Quillsh Wammy about his newfound interest and asked for the man's permission to explore it. Though questioning at first, the founder granted his request and purchased a tennis racket for the child to use. At a daily rate, the child familiarized himself with the sport through amateur matches with Alice, making use of the orphanage's small tennis court. In addition to that, he was taught of hitting techniques while batting away balls served to him one by one from a tennis ball machine. Gradually, Quillsh increased the difficulty by kicking up the serving speed. Once L had mastered serving and ball-hitting, the founder would move the machine's projectile around so the boy could run on his side of the court as if he were playing with a real opponent. More than two weeks later, the young enthusiast had mastered the concept of the sport and played it with tremendous expertise.

Seeing that the young one was ready to bring things up a notch, the founder brought L to the open stadium, the one within the vicinity which had tennis courts open for practice and amateur sessions. Unlike the players there, the black-haired adolescent never bothered to get in the proper tennis attire. Instead, he preferred to play in his usual outfit with the exception of his white shirt tucked beneath his denim jeans. The constant arm-raising and running-around was demanding him to do so as well as upon observation of the other players in gameplay.

Additionally, Quillsh called upon an acquaintance of his who had a good background in the game, a tennis instructor in his early thirties. With him, the child could fully grasp the essence of the game and would be able to try out his game proficiency through a legitimate one-on-one session with a professional player. Through the guidance of the instructor, the boy would be able to apply all that he had learnt as well as be given important pointers.

30th of September 1995, that Saturday morning. To begin with, L considered a few momentary stretches before engaging in his match with the instructor. The two competed with great skill afterwards as an overlooking audience almost mistook it for a professional tennis set. From a close distance, L could see a blonde short-haired girl decked in proper tennis attire watching over him as he played. He was not used to gathering this kind of attention although it would be nice since he thought he would make a good exhibit whom players could take notes from.

As the man prepared for his turn to serve, the boy saw a familiar figure approaching the blonde. A black-haired girl at that, in a navy blue dress and a yellow cardigan, smiling and waving at her. He could not tell who they were for certain as his mind was preoccupied with the game. Upon noticing the lad eyeing her, the brunette flashed him a familiar smile and waved at him. At that moment, he realized who the kid was: it was Temi. With his attention caught, the boy barely noticed the ball coming his way which heavily knocked him on the head causing him to topple to the ground. Swiftly, his instructor dashed to him, carried the boy in his arms to a bench and let him lie down and recover from his injury.

Surprised at what just happened, the brunette's mouth went slightly ajar. Her colleague, the blonde Nicola, could not stop herself from snickering at the sight. "He wasn't paying close attention to that return," she remarked snappily. "It could've been worse and would've done him badly on the head."

Worried, Temi spoke. "I hope he's alright."

"He was obviously ogling at you," the girl commented as she twirled her tennis racket on her shoulder. "He knew better that he's not supposed to take his eyes off of the ball."

"But he's just surprised to see that I'm here, I guess."

Nicola cooed. "So _he's_ your boyfriend, huh?"

"Oh, shush," she dismissed, trotting to the direction where the injured boy was. "It's probably best that I check on him."

"Yeah, sure. I'm going with you," the blonde followed up, trailing right behind her.

Stunned, L lay there still as he strived to revive himself, an ice bag placed on his sore spot. Slowly gaining back his composure, the face of the black-haired girl was the first thing he laid his eyes on, the look of worry written all over it. Despite the small throbbing sensation he felt on his lobe, a small impish smile offhandedly escaped his lips as he eyed the girl who was kneeling beside him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

The boy blinked several times before taking off the ice bag placed on his head. Muzzily, he raised his body to sit up, his instructor assisting him in doing so. He turned to face her as his round jet-black pupils met her hazel ones. "I am now."

With that, Temi sighed in relief. "Don't be silly. That blow might have been strong enough to send you to the hospital."

"And I should say the same thing to you," he differed. "The hit wasn't strong enough to affect me badly in anyway. I'm still capable of playing."

"You don't have to continue if you really can't," she bargained.

"But I can," he firmly asserted, letting his feet dangle on the bench's edge. "Just give me some time to get me back to my senses fully."

"And yet here you are in the open court, playing tennis and all." A small chuckle left her lips. "I never thought you'd actually do it."

"I did take my word on it. I wanted to know about the gladness you're in when talking about your classmate and her contagious enthusiasm."

Nicola interrupted. "My enthusiasm?"

"Yes, and I thought that by engaging in this sport myself, I could get some insight on it." L turned to the blonde who had been closely observing him and inquired her. "You must be the acquaintance I've been well-informed of."

"It's good to see that you two know each other," she referred to her pal, holding out a hand to the lad. "Nicola Danes. Just call me Nicola."

"Aiming for the women's division representative in your academy, I presume." He clasped onto her hand which helped him to stand up then gave it a steady shake. "That's very promising of you."

"You're not so bad with your gameplay either. How about a match this afternoon then?" she offered.

"Are you serious?" standing up, the brunette digressed since the boy just got up from an injury after all.

"I don't mind," he quickly interjected. "I should've forgotten all about my injury by that time."

With such persistence that the boy exhibited, all Temi could do was let him be and look on.

Confident, the blonde smirked. "But I have to warn you that I do take my games seriously."

"Remarkable enough," he finalized. "I might even be able to learn from you."

At that, Nicola gave him a salute, turned away and walked to the court where her trainer was. Temi went after her classmate and waved to the young lad who made his way to his own court, continuing where he left off with his match.

* * *

3rd of November 1995, 7:35 that Friday morning. It was the sports fest's finals week. The tennis tournaments were going to be held in the open stadium so that general admission was granted to the interested audience. Nicola was qualified to compete for the finals and it would be a great chance to see all the hard work she went through finally pay off.

Luckily for Temi, the court was close enough to the academy she and her classmate went to. With that, she could visit the blonde for her morning practice. Upon arriving there, the brunette saw a black-haired boy by the bleachers casually inclined by the railings, watching Nicola with her practice match at a nearby distance. Recognizing who the child was, she walked there and stood beside him, her hands resting on the bleacher's railings.

The lad spoke. "I wasn't notified you'd drop by here at such an early time."

"Good morning," she greeted. "I just thought I should visit now and see how both of you are doing."

"I see," he replied, thoughtfully pressing his thumb on his bottom lip. "I decided to let Nicola practice with her trainer, hence why I'm just watching them from here."

"I thought you two have agreed to play against each other as much as possible?" she questioned. "I mean since Nicola said it was probably the best way that both of you can train."

"I can't say that she's wrong," L explained. "I simply think it's best I let her train with him since it's already the tournament finals. It's also because she probably can't accept the fact that there's no way she could defeat me anymore."

"Hey! I heard that, you," Nicola butted in before preparing for her turn to serve. "Just because you play a bit better than me doesn't mean you can go around bragging about it in front of people's faces."

"You're stance is incorrect," the boy tastelessly indicated. "Follow the proper game posture."

Pointing her tennis racket at him, she fumed. "Do you mind? I'm practicing here."

Peeved, L stared at her with his indifferent eyes and scolded. "If you don't do the proper game stance correctly, I will kick you."

Upon hearing his monotonous statement, the brunette let out a small laugh she had been trying to hold in. "If you do that, then she might not be able to play well."

"She brought it to herself. Why should I be blamed for it?"

Finally serving the ball, the blonde resumed with her game. Meanwhile, her two on-looking companions chatted as they observed her. "Where's Mr. Wammy by the way?" Temi asked, seeing that it was unusual for the boy to be outside of the orphanage alone.

With no hesitation, L replied. "He went to use the toilet."

"I see."

"Are you going to stay until the tournament tonight then? Since you've been looking forward to that after all."

"I'd be glad to, but I still have classes to attend. I'm not excused from them like Nicola who's going to compete," she informed. As her eyes glanced to her hand, she remembered something else. "And I still have Friday review class afterwards. It seems I'm going to join you two later than I thought and I apologize for that in advanced. That's why I visited as early as now since I don't think I would be able to later on."

"That's quite alright," consoled the boy. "I did mention from before that something like this would happen. I'll keep watch on her 'til then so don't worry. But there's something else I've been thinking about lately."

"What is it?"

"If I were to compete in a tournament like Nicola, would you be there to watch and cheer on me as well?"

"Of course. Absolutely! Given that there won't be anything that would hinder me from doing so, like my classes."

He breathed. "I knew you would say that. I've been thinking of the same thing." The boy paused. "In that case, you should scurry to your class now. No sense for us to delay you any further and be the reason why you're late in the first place."

Thoughtfully, the girl nodded her head. "I guess you're right. Bid Nicola well for me."

With that, the girl waved good bye and walked away. L then turned his head and continued to take down mental notes from the blonde at gameplay.

* * *

6:50 that night. Quillsh Wammy was already seated on a bench by Nicola's side of the court, waiting for the two youngsters who were seated among the crowd in the bleachers. He was there apparently to watch over L but since the black-haired boy was accompanying yet another child, why bother and keep an eye on both of them he thought.

About to prepare for her match, Nicola stood up from her seat. "Well, this is it."

"Indeed," replied L who was seated with her. "I'm sure you'll do well."

However, as much as the boy tried to hide it, the slight frown on his face continued to bother her. "Are you alright?"

Seconds lapsed before he snapped back to his senses. "I'm fine. I'm probably just anxious since I haven't been to a tournament before."

"Oh," doubted Nicola. "Is it also because Temi couldn't come?"

The brunet breathed deeply through his nose and the two started pacing to their side of the court. "She had been looking forward to this event after all. I feel kind of bad that she might not make it."

"She probably would. She often arrives late to stuff. You'll never know if she would actually make it," she remarked which the boy chuckled to.

Approaching the court, L shaded his eyes from the bright and blinding stadium lights. The court was incredibly lit and all he could see were the wide open field and the onlookers whose faces were too distant, too small for him to distinguish. On the other side of the court was Nicola's opponent, smiling about and waving to her anticipating supporters.

"It seems I'm competing with Penny Jules," Nicola informed the lad. "She's a senior from our academy and a long-time defending champion of the sport, in case you didn't know."

"There's no need for me to know that," the boy turned down, placing his hands in his pockets. "I'm confident that you'll make up for all the effort you've put into this and see it finally pay off, and that is regardless of your opponent's experiences with the sport."

Nicola scratched her head. "Heh, you make it sound like this would be an easy win for me."

"I'm just saying that status has nothing to do with winning." Walking back to the bench where Quillsh was, he followed up. "Nevertheless, Temi gives you her regards. She told me to bid you well this morning."

Before running to the game field, the blonde smiled. "I appreciate that."

The introductory words went on and soon, the two players entered the field like a pair of soldiers, handshaking and ready to duel. The first set ensued. To Nicola's surprise, her opponent was not as promising as she expected. The senior player's premise was good but her gameplay was sloppy. It would have been easy for the blonde to beat her opponent if only she moved fast enough. With a hard hit, Nicola ended the set with a score of 4-2.

"You did great back there," L spoke in an attempt to cheer on the retreating Nicola.

"Maybe she's just warming up?" she supposed, wiping sweat off of her forehead.

"Perhaps. Just don't let your guard down."

Going back to the game field, it was Nicola's privilege to give the set's first serve. She was expecting a serving ace but Penny Jules instantly responded to it, making the senior the first scorer of the set. Nicola did not lose her composure but she was still caught off guard by her opponent's sudden exhibition of vigor. She was not expecting that the senior could play this well. The blonde struggled on until the set was won by her opponent, 6-4.

* * *

 _Game, fifth set, Jules._

The girls were currently engaged in a heated sixth set, the senior leading the match with a score of 3-2 and the current set by 3-1. It did not look so hopeless but indeed, the opponent was at an advantage and the blonde was starting to wear out. A short intermission was called for and the players retreated to have a water break.

"Man, I suck," the blonde spat out before grabbing onto her Coleman water jug.

"It's not even a difficult match, at least that's how I see it," commented L. "I simply think you underestimated her at first."

"Probably," she replied after gulp upon gulp of drinking water.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but I could sure use a little bit of encouragement now, but I know that's not exactly your style."

"I'm not very good with words, Nicola," he explained. "Much more with words for motivation."

"Like I said, it's just not your style."

Bringing a thumb to his lip, the brunet continued. "But if it would make you feel better, I suppose I could let you in on why I decided to play tennis in the first place."

"If it would make me feel better-" she repeated, placing the jug back to where it was. "Go on."

"I'll tell, given that you will keep this a secret between the both of us," he warned her. "Not even Temi should know about this."

Hesitant at first, Nicola finally smiled and granted his request. "Alright, you have my word. I'm not telling anyone."

The boy began. "I exposed myself to this sport for Temi's sake. Seeing how glad she is whenever she talks about you, it made me think that should I be engaged in this sport as well, I just might make her glad as you do. But I figured that it all comes from your enthusiasm." His toes scratched his other foot noisily. "I admit I am rooting on you because of this. In case you didn't notice, I stayed by your side and did everything I could to keep your enthusiasm going."

"And this is all for the sake of keeping Temi glad, huh?" Upon hearing his story, the blonde chuckled. "That makes sense, though I knew there was something going on with the both of you in the first place."

"Nothing of the sort," L denied, tilting his head to one side. "Temi and I are merely childhood acquaintances."

"But I guess you're right," Nicola agreed, finally coming to a decision. "She'd be disheartened to know that our efforts ended up going to waste. Also, it would make me feel bad to disappoint your girlfriend."

L stared at her intently, gravely. _'Girlfriend,'_ he scoffed. He did not have a girlfriend nor would he ever have the nerve to have one. Thinking about it, Temi came the closest to being one for him. Knowing her, she would not even be disappointed if Nicola did lose the game, but that was not what the girl was waiting for all this time. She wanted Nicola to win and she was counting on her.

With what Nicola said about the consequences of her actions, the boy supposed that dealing with it was something they both agreed on but still, for whatever reason, "She's not my girlfriend," he denied once more.

"Whatever you say," shrugged Nicola. "I have to double my efforts now, especially since she's here." With her eyes to someone behind L's shoulder, she pointed there which made the boy turn around to see who it was for himself. As if they were just talking about her earlier, the ponytailed brunette had arrived and still in her school uniform.

"Gee, Nicola," Temi spoke. "I didn't know you would just slack off like that."

She laughed. "I guess I just needed some encouragement. From both of you." Immediately, the blonde then sprinted back to the court.

Questioning, Temi asked L who was left behind with her. "What was that all about?"

"She just needed some words to get her by," he explained. "Don't ask me what they were."

She then took a seat beside him and sighed. "I'll just leave that to both of you then."

"I'm amazed that you arrived earlier than we expected. You didn't cut classes, did you?"

"No," she snickered, pushing L by the arm. "Of course not. We're just dismissed early since the teacher wanted to see the game results herself."

Turning back to face her opponent, Nicola felt more headstrong than she initially did since the game began. Upon hearing the boy's story, she was somehow empowered. She served the ball with a hard smack and aced Penny Jules that easily. The crowd gasped and cheered on her as she prepared for yet another serve. After seven more games, the blonde conquered the set with a score of 7-5.

The match score was 3-3, but Nicola had plans in mind. She wanted to get it over with sooner. She seized the next two sets before Penny Jules had the chance to redeem herself in the next. However, Nicola conquered the game once more. Finishing the last set, the scoreboard read 6-4.

"Game set," the umpire announced. "Won by Danes. Six games to four!"

The crowd roared, amazed as a historical event had just taken place: after a long time, a freshman won the academy tournament once more. Confetti was sprinkled around the open field and loud upbeat music filled the air. With that, the tournament had ended.

Overjoyed, Temi stood up from her seat and grabbed L by the arm, prompting him to stand up with her. "She won! Nicola won! I'm so glad she won!" she squealed, jumping up and down and still holding onto the boy's arm all the while. Noticing the boy's discomfort, her hand immediately let go of him.

He looked at her with questioning eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I didn't know I was hurting you," she apologized. "I'm sorry about that, and maybe for arriving here late as well."

"You're late almost all the time," L deadpanned. "But it's better than you not coming at all." Taking back her hand, he placed a lock of stray hair behind her ear with his other hand. Confused, all the girl could do was look back at him and feel her cheeks heat up.

Walking to her opponent, Nicola placed an open hand in front of her. Understanding what it was, Penny Jules smiled and shook it professionally. The senior then let go of her hand and placed an arm on the freshman's shoulders, inviting her to the awarding ceremony. The blonde agreed and called out to her companions.

"Hey, lovebirds!" she yelled to them. "Awarding ceremony going on. Let's go, double time!"

Hearing what she said, the black-haired boy ignored her choice of words and nodded at her, dashing to where she was and, hand in hand still, Temi trailing right behind him.


End file.
